The main gates to Victoria Park were originally at the end of Park Street (now Victoria Park Street). Construction of the Clydeside Expressway resulted in the main gates being moved to their current location on Victoria Park Drive North at the foot of Airthrey AvenueVictoria Park Street is part of the Gordon Park Estate, now a conservation area within Whiteinch

Victoria Park original entrance

St Paul's school was opened in 1905 with 180 pupils but by 1907 it had grown to over 400. The ground floor of the building was used as a primary school and the upper floor served as a church until the new church on Dumbarton Road was constructed between 1957 and 1960. In 1974 the school moved to new premises on Primrose StreetThe Whiteinch Neighbourhood Centre was later built on this site to be replaced by the Whiteinch Centre which provides services and activities to the community, it also houses Whiteinch &amp; Scotstoun Housing Association

The School Chapel, St Paul's (now The Whiteinch Centre)

Without doubt the most appealing part of this building is the massive expanse of stained glass behind the High Alter depicting the missionary life of Saint PaulTwo more stained glass windows are to be found at the Lady Chapel (to the right of the High Alter) and in the Baptismal Chamber to the right of the church entrance doors - the glass is set in the domed ceiling directly above the baptismal fontThe creator of the beautiful windows was Gabriel Lore who passed Away on the 25th of December 1996

The Parish of St Paul's started out in 1903 when Mass was celebrated in a building shared with the original St Paul's primary school (lower floor). The church occupied the upper floorWhen the school relocated to Primrose Street the current church building was erected on the site in 1960

St Paul's Parish

This building is one of only two remaining buildings from the 1800s, the other is Inchview which is tucked in behind Gem Carpets on Dumbarton Road close to the Clyde Tunnel entrance

Jordanvale House (now St Paul's Chapel House)

The original Whiteinch Bowling Cub was on Edzell Street tucked in behind the modern Whiteinch Medical Practise on Dumbarton RoadBy 1926 the club had moved to premises behind the villas in Clydeview, alongside Broomhill Bowling Club. Clydeview in it's entirety was demolished to make way for the Clydeside ExpresswayWhiteinch now has no outdoor bowling facilities; Whiteinch Indoor Bowling Club is on 30 Ferryden Street

Whiteinch Bowling Club

formed in 1906. Stone church built 1930

Whiteinch Baptist Church

Later the Odeon, Built on the site of a roller skating rink called the Palladium.This site originally occupied by the Whiteinch Roller Skating Rink became a cinema called the Palladium in 1910, opened by Scotstoun palladium Ltd with a capacity of 480. In 1924 the Palladium closed and in 1933 Singleton Cinemas opened the Commodore; the suggested name of Broadway was rejected. Holding 2,000 people the Commodore had a very clear link to the shipping theme in Whiteinch. The cinema was sold to the Odeon chain in 1936 and it closed in 1967 following a downturn in cinema attendances. It was used as a bingo hall for short while before being demolished in 1976There was an adjacent cafe called the Commodore Cafe, part of the tenements.The flats now occupying the land are aptly named Palladium Place

Commodore Cinema

The original Granny Gibb’s was situated where the Thornwood roundabout sits. The old cottage was built by Mr Gibb in 1790s, when he passed away his wife Elizabeth and her daughter ran this old howff for many years. She was very strict and never permitted travellers to drink or leave the premises on a Sunday.

Granny Gibbs is the only pub in the Whiteinch areaA pub called Victoria Park was built in 1991 on this site, a very spartan building which looked more like a petrol station than a public house

Granny Gibbs

Site now occupied by an Esso petrol station with a Tesco ExpressBack in the 1960s there was a BP petrol station alongside an Esso petrol station

Burnbank House

Situated on Dumbarton Road, now occupied by St Paul's primary school janny

Scotstoun Villa

Adjacent to the site of St George's Co-operative Society the corner building now occupied by Scotstoun Emporium has been a much valued hardware store within the community for over 100 years In 1931 a ‘Dalmuir West via Bridgton Cross’ tram left the rails and fell into the window of the shop at this corner. The incident was allegedly reported in an Italian newspaper of the time!

Scotstoun Emporium

This house occupied the land where St Paul's primary school now sits

Burnbrae House

Ths Whiteinch Victoria Park railway station was built when the train line started to accommodate passenger trains in addition to goods trains. No remains of the station are to be seen on what is now the Victoria Park Nature WalkThe line opened in 1874 for goods, then a passenger service began in 1897. It closed to passengers in 1951 and to goods in 1965. For a long time it lay derelict and was known as the ‘dummy railway’. Great fun when you were a child

Whiteinch Victoria Park railway station

At the end of the green open space of the nature trail and with Victoria Park Lane North on the left it is a short distance to the junction of Westland Drive and the busy Clydeside Expressway. The pavement to the left is your route up Westland Drive.  

Westland Drive starts in Whiteinch at Dumbarton road with Victoria Park Bowling Green on your left. It then crosses the Clydeside Expressway continuing past Victoria Park to the double roundabouts at the end of Danes Drive, and slowly climbs up past St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Jordanhill before levelling out again at the top of the nature trail

Westland Drive

The Gordon Park area of Whiteinch consists of Victoria Park Street, Elm Street, Lime Street and Bowling Green Road and is bordered by Dumbarton Road, Victoria Park Drive South and Westland Drive.The Oswald family owned the Scotstoun Estate until the last decade of the 19th century when James Gordon Oswald died in 1897. It was he who initiated the development of this area for housing for estate workers in 1885. The area became known later as Gordon Park.His idea was to provide good quality housing with a church and recreation hall for his estate workers. He also donated part of the estate to the Burgh of Partick for the creation of Victoria Park in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.During the war, on March 13 1941, 10 properties at 19 to 27 Lime Street, 24 and 26 Westland Drive and 53 to 56 Victoria Park Drive South were badly damaged by a German bombing raid. The houses were in a direct line of the likely target, the Barclay Curle Shipyard

Gordon Park Estate

Gordon Oswald of Scotstoun Estate donated the site at the corner of Victoria Park Street and Dumbarton Road for a permanent church, also giving £500 to the building fund. Such was the size of its congregation that in 1900 the church opened a Mission Hall in Fore Street (Scotstoun) to meet the needs of people moving into that district. In 1924 the 214th Glasgow Boys Brigade Company was formed in association with the church, and the company's pipe band was world champion on a number of occasionsAfter the union between the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland in 1929 a proposal was put forward to rename the building Whiteinch West Church of Scotland, but the congregation decided that Gordon Park Church was more fitting, as that name included a tribute to the man who had been such a generous benefactor to it.Gordon Park Church closed in 1980 when its congregation amalgamated with that of Jordanvale Parish Church; the building was subsequently taken over by a furniture shop followed by Nova Bathrooms and is now Victoria Park Kindergarten

Whiteinch United Free Church was completed in 1877, its halls were completed slightly earlier in 1874. Oswald Villa at the top of Balshagray Avenue was its first manseWhiteinch United Free Church originated in 1873 in Jenkin's Cooking Depot at the corner of Squire Street and South Street. Only 4 short years later they were able to move into this magnificent building

Whiteinch Heritage Trail - western loop

Victoria Park original entrance

Introduction

Backstory and Context