Sauchiehall Street

Sauchiehall is a corruption of the Scots ; "abounding in willows" and "river-meadow; level ground beside a river". can be mistaken for the Scots , pronounced the same, meaning hall. ==History==

At its height, from 1880 to the 1970s, Sauchiehall Street was one of the most famous streets in Glasgow, and known internationally, due to its panoply of entertainment venues, galleries and high quality stores. The desire of wealthy merchants from 1800 onwards to own property on the outskirts of the city meant that Blythswood Hill and Garnethill started to be developed as part of the 'New Town of Blythswood'. Its first major developer was William Harley of Bath Street fame, who purchased, planned and developed 35 acres of land immediately west of Buchanan Street and also created Blythswood Square in the 1800s onwards. As a consequence, the meandering country road from the cathedral to Partick through the willows, and between these hills, acquired the name of the Saughie-haugh road. The first terraces of townhouses were built next to the road in the 1810s by William Harley. By the early 1900s the street contained theatres, picture houses, ballrooms, clubs, hotels, restaurants, art galleries and departmental stores such as Pettigrew & Stephens, Copland & Lye, Trerons, with theatres in adjacent streets, including the Kings Theatre in Bath Street, Theatre Royal in Hope Street and the Pavilion Theatre, in Renfield Street, and Glasgow Art School in Renfew Street. Glasgow's first "skyscraper", the Art Deco style Beresford Hotel, was built further along Sauchiehall Street in 1938 for the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938. It later became offices for ICI and then a hall of residence for Strathclyde University before being converted into private apartments. Its "moderne" architecture was novel when it was built and the original mustard-coloured stonework with red fins was rather unkindly described as "custard and rhubarb architecture". In 2014 Sauchiehall Street was the subject of the documentary TV series The Street. Public Realm Spread over ten years to 2026 Glasgow City Council initiated a public realm project as Sauchiehall Street Avenue, including in the part from Charing Cross to Rose Street creating a multifunctional service verge, two-way cycle lane, two lane carriageway along with plantation of trees, shrubs and free wireless internet through the street. ==City centre section==

At the eastern end of Sauchiehall Street is the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Buchanan Galleries, one of the largest city centre redevelopments in the UK. Sauchiehall Street formerly linked directly to Parliamentary Road at its eastern end, which continued through Townhead to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The section from West Nile Street to Rose Street was pedestrianised in 1972, with the easternmost part, linking to Buchanan Street, pedestrianised in 1978. The central part of the street consists of remaining retailers, the McLellan Galleries and the Willow Tearooms, designed in 1903 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which has been restored to its original artistic designs and is open to the public as a tea room, restaurant and Mackintosh venue centre. Nearby in Renfrew Street is the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. ==Clubs and museums==

At the western end of the city centre section of the street, towards Charing Cross, there are restaurants, bars and student-oriented clubs. Landmarks in this area of the street, or near to it, include the former Beresford Hotel, Glasgow School of Art in Renfrew Street, the Glasgow Film Theatre in Rose Street, CCA Glasgow, the McLellan Galleries, the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum and the Glasgow Dental Hospital and School. ==References==