Established | April 14, 1964 (as Glasgow Museum of Transport) June 21, 2011 (as Riverside Museum) |
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Location | 100 Pointhouse Place, Yorkhill, Glasgow, G3 8RS, Scotland (Partick is nearby, across the River Kelvin) |
Collection size | 3,000 objects |
Visitors | 1,364,739 (2019) [1] |
Public transit access | Partick station |
Website | www.glasgowlife.org.uk |
The Riverside Museum (replacing the preceding Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in the Yorkhill area of Glasgow, Scotland, housed in a building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, with its River Clyde frontage at the new Pointhouse Quay. It forms part of the Glasgow Harbour regeneration project. The building opened in June 2011, winning the 2013 European Museum of the Year Award. It houses many exhibits of national and international importance. The Govan-Partick Bridge, which will provide a pedestrian and cycle path link from the museum across the Clyde to Govan, is set to be completed in 2024.
The Museum of Transport was opened on 14 April 1964 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. [2] [3] Created in the wake of the closure of Glasgow's tramway system in 1962, it was initially located at the former Coplawhill tram depot on Albert Drive in Pollokshields, before moving to the Kelvin Hall in 1988. [4] The old building was subsequently converted into the Tramway arts centre. [5]
The museum was then situated inside the Kelvin Hall opposite the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the west end of Glasgow. The Kelvin Hall was built in 1927, and operated as an exhibition centre, then was converted in 1987 to house the Museum of Transport and the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena.
The Kelvin Hall site itself closed in April 2010, with the Museum moving to its third home at the Riverside Museum in June 2011. [6]
The museum at Kelvin Hall closed on 18 April 2010, with most of its collections moved to the purpose-built Riverside Museum in Glasgow Harbour on the Clyde, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and engineers Buro Happold. [7] The current museum opened on Tuesday 21 June 2011.
The Riverside Museum building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and engineers Buro Happold. [8] The internal exhibitions and displays were designed by Event Communications, a specialist London-based museum design firm. [9]
The purpose-built Museum replaced the previous home for the city's transport collection, at the city's Kelvin Hall.
The location of the museum is on the site of the former A. & J. Inglis Shipyard within Glasgow Harbour, on the north bank of the River Clyde and adjacent to its confluence point with the River Kelvin. This site enabled the Clyde Maritime Trust's SV Glenlee and other visiting craft to berth alongside the museum. [10]
Of the £74 million needed for the development of the Riverside Museum, Glasgow City Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have committed £69 million. The Riverside Museum Appeal is a charitable trust established to raise the final £5 million in sponsorship and donations from companies, trusts and individuals for the development of the museum. The Riverside Museum Appeal Trust is recognised as a Scottish Charity SC 033286. [11] Major patrons of the project include: BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships, Weir Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, FirstGroup, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Caledonian MacBrayne, Arnold Clark, SSE plc, Diageo, Bank of Scotland and Optical Express. [12]
On 13 November 2007 the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Winter cut the first turf. [13] The main contractors for the project were BAM Construct UK Ltd [14] with a range of trade subcontractors including the services installations being delivered by BBESL's team of Jordan Kerr, Gordon Ferguson & Jamie Will and FES, project management being the responsibility of Capita Property and Infrastructure and Buro Happold providing Resident Engineering Services. The building was completed on 20 June 2011 and the next day it opened to the public. [15]
As well as housing many of the existing collections of the Glasgow Museum of Transport, the city has acquired SAR Class 15F 4-8-2 steam locomotive, No.3007. Built by the Glasgow-based North British Locomotive Company at its Polmadie Works in 1945, the locomotive was bought in late 2006 from Transnet. [16] It was on display in George Square for a short time in 2007, as part of the effort to raise the £5 million public contribution funding. [17]
The museum housed the oldest surviving pedal cycle and the world's leading collection of Scottish-built cars and trucks, including pioneering examples from Scottish manufacturers Argyll, Arrol-Johnston and Albion. More modern Scottish-built cars, namely the Rootes Group's Hillman Imp, Chrysler Avenger and Chrysler Sunbeam were represented too along with many other motorcars in a large showroom-type display sponsored by Arnold Clark.
All forms of transport were featured, from horse-drawn vehicles to fire engines, from motorcycles to caravans, even toy cars and prams.
In the Clyde Room was a display of some 250 ship models, [18] representing the contribution of the River Clyde and its shipbuilders and engineers to maritime trade and the Royal Navy, including the Comet of 1812, the Hood, the Howe, the Queen Mary, and the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2.
Locomotive manufacture was also an important Glasgow industry and the museum celebrated the city's railway heritage, including locomotives such as:
Other main exhibits displayed the evolution of Glasgow's public transport system and included seven Glasgow Corporation Tramways tramcars from different eras, Glasgow Corporation trolleybuses, and the reconstruction of "Kelvin Street", which aimed to recapture the atmosphere of 1930s Glasgow, including full-scale replicas of a pre-1977 Glasgow Subway station and the Regal Cinema, which played Scottish transport documentaries such as Seawards the Great Ships .
Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company's Doncaster UK operations.
The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the history of it. The majority of the museum's exhibits originated in the collections of London Transport, but, since the creation of Transport for London (TfL) in 2000, the remit of the museum has expanded to cover all aspects of transport in the city and in some instances beyond.
The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a science and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles. An ongoing programme is in place to restore and conserve items in the collections. This work is largely managed by volunteers but, since the passing of the Museum of Transport and Technology Act in 2000, has been supported by full-time professional museum staff. New public programmes and facilities now promote the collections.
Yorkhill is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated north of the River Clyde in the West End of the city. It is known for its famous hospitals and remains the location of the West Glasgow Ambulatory Care Hospital.
The Kelvin Hall, located on Argyle Street in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the largest exhibition centres in Britain and now a mixed-use arts and sports venue that opened as an exhibition venue in 1927. It has also been used as a concert hall, home to the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena to 2014, and from 1988 to 2010, Glasgow's Museum of Transport. As part of the economic redevelopment of Greater Glasgow promoted by the Scottish Development Agency and local authorities to enhance the city's tourist infrastructure and to attract further national and international conferences, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was designed as the Hall's successor for exhibitions and entertainments, built in 1983 and opened on the nearby Queen's Dock in 1985 with an exhibition area equal in size to the Kelvin Hall but with the benefit of extensive car parks and land for other complementary buildings. The Hall is protected as a category B listed building, and is served by city bus services and by Kelvinhall subway station.
Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, England.
A & J Inglis, Ltd, was a shipbuilding firm founded by Anthony Inglis and his brother John, engineers and shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland in 1862. The firm built over 500 ships in a period of just over 100 years. Their Pointhouse Shipyard was at the confluence of the rivers Clyde and Kelvin. They constructed a wide range of ships, including Clyde steamers, paddle steamers and small ocean liners. In wartime, they built small warships, and in the period after World War II, they built a number of whalers.
The Scottish Tramway and Transport Society was founded on 27 June 1951 and was the firsty society in the United Kingdom dedicated to tramway retention and preservation. Until 1983 it was known as the Scottish Tramway Museum Society. The Society was originally formed by tramway enthusiasts, mainly living in the Glasgow area, with a view to preserve a Glasgow "Room and Kitchen" type single deck tramcar No. 672 of 1898. The Society was less successful in attempting to preserve an Aberdeen tram. Tram 73 was Aberdeen's last double deck tram with an upper-deck balcony; it was stored for two years until lack of resources led to its scrapping in 1956.
A tram engine is a steam locomotive specially built, or modified, to run on a street, or roadside, tramway track.
Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe. Over 1000 municipally-owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland, with over 100 route miles by 1922. The system closed in 1962 and was the last city tramway in Great Britain.
Leeds Corporation Tramways formerly served the city of Leeds, England. The original trams were horse-drawn, but the city introduced Britain's first overhead-powered electric trams in 1891, and by 1901, electrification had been completed. The tramway opened on 29 October 1891.
The Glasgow trolleybus system operated in and immediately surrounding the city of Glasgow, Scotland, between 1949 and 1967, with the network reaching its largest extent in 1959. It was the only British system to open after World War II.
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life is an industrial and social history museum in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated on the site of the Victorian Summerlee Iron Works and the former Hydrocon Crane factory. The main Hydrocon factory building became the museum’s exhibition hall but it has been substantially changed and adapted since. The museum aims to show Lanarkshire's contribution to engineering, mining, steel working, weaving and farming, and also show the lives of the people of the area. It includes interactive displays and a temporary exhibition space. Entry is free of charge.
The city of Glasgow, Scotland is particularly noted for its 19th-century Victorian architecture, and the early-20th-century "Glasgow Style", as developed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Hurst, Nelson and Company Ltd was a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Motherwell, Scotland. The company also built many railway wagons, as well as trams and trolleybus carosseries for several local authorities.
The Clyde Model Dockyard was a famous toy and model shop in Glasgow. Established in 1789, it was located at 22–23 Argyll Arcade. The firm manufactured a range of boats and sailing yachts, but were probably best known for their 0 scale model railway stock and accessories.
Zaha Hadid Architects is British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. After the death of "starchitect" Hadid, Patrik Schumacher became head of the firm, at the time with a staff of 400 with 36 projects across 21 countries.
Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.
The G&SWR 5 Class were 0-6-0T steam locomotives designed by Peter Drummond for the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and introduced in 1917. The class was originally designated 5 Class but, after the G&SWR's 1919 renumbering, this was changed to 322 Class. After passing to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923 they were given power classification 2F.
The Kelvin Valley Railway was an independent railway designed to connect Kilsyth, an important mining town in central Scotland, with the railway network. It connected Kilsyth to Kirkintilloch and thence over other railways to the ironworks of Coatbridge, and to Maryhill, connecting onwards to the Queen's Dock at Stobcross.