Sixty Steps - another urban myth?
Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:43 pm
I ‘ve been doing a bit of research about the origins of the Sixty Steps story and the alleged involvement of Alexander Greek Thomson. I thought it might fill an information gap in my Thomson web page. http://www.scotcities.com/greekthomson.htm
The more I looked into it, the more questions without logical answers appeared.
There is a plaque on the retaining wall crediting the Sixty Steps to Alexander Thomson in 1872. This was two years after the Queen Margaret Bridge and the Belmont Bridge opened up North Kelvinside for the development of an accessible new suburb.
Why would you appoint an Architect, rather than a Civil Engineer, for the complex job of designing a massive retaining wall?
Thomson is not credited with any other civil engineering project, so why would he take this one on?
In the early 1870’s Thomson was in poor health suffering from bronchitis and asthma. He had to delegate much of his architectural work due to his health problems. He died in the spring of 1875.
Why would a world-renowned architect, heading for his deathbed, suddenly abandon architecture and turn to civil engineering to design a mundane retaining wall and staircase for a suburb that had yet to be developed?
The houses at Kelvinside Terrace, at the top of the stairs, are first listed in the Post Office Directory for Glasgow for 1878/1879, years after the date on the plaque for the retaining wall.
The first part of the development appears in the Post Office Directory for 1872/1873 at Doune Terrace, which is now part of Belmont Street.
If we are to believe the Thomson connection, why would the developers of the new suburb start at the most difficult part of the site at Queen Margaret Bridge rather than the easy part at Belmont Bridge?
I’m sure you guys will have answers to all these questions!
The more I looked into it, the more questions without logical answers appeared.
There is a plaque on the retaining wall crediting the Sixty Steps to Alexander Thomson in 1872. This was two years after the Queen Margaret Bridge and the Belmont Bridge opened up North Kelvinside for the development of an accessible new suburb.
Why would you appoint an Architect, rather than a Civil Engineer, for the complex job of designing a massive retaining wall?
Thomson is not credited with any other civil engineering project, so why would he take this one on?
In the early 1870’s Thomson was in poor health suffering from bronchitis and asthma. He had to delegate much of his architectural work due to his health problems. He died in the spring of 1875.
Why would a world-renowned architect, heading for his deathbed, suddenly abandon architecture and turn to civil engineering to design a mundane retaining wall and staircase for a suburb that had yet to be developed?
The houses at Kelvinside Terrace, at the top of the stairs, are first listed in the Post Office Directory for Glasgow for 1878/1879, years after the date on the plaque for the retaining wall.
The first part of the development appears in the Post Office Directory for 1872/1873 at Doune Terrace, which is now part of Belmont Street.
If we are to believe the Thomson connection, why would the developers of the new suburb start at the most difficult part of the site at Queen Margaret Bridge rather than the easy part at Belmont Bridge?
I’m sure you guys will have answers to all these questions!