Springburn Virtual Museum

Springburn in transition

Red Road, looking north, 1926

Various Housing Acts after the first world war stipulated the building of large numbers of modern, affordable housing to alleviate the overcrowding problems in inner-city communities.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Corporation of Glasgow built housing schemes in the lands of Balornock, and in later years the new housing extended into the lands of South Balornock and Barmulloch.

This picture shows the 'Red Road', a dirt track bounded on the left by Low Balornock Farm and on the right by Barmulloch Farm. A scheme of eight tower blocks was built from 1962-69 on the area of this picture to the left. At 31 storeys they were then the tallest tower blocks in Europe.

Source: Glasgow City Archives