In 2019 the Alexander Thomson Society launched a competition entitled Reimagining Egyptian Halls, in order to encourage designers from across the world to think creatively about what a future use for Greek Thomson’s masterpiece of warehouse design might be.
We celebrated the entries received through exhibitions at the New Glasgow Society and The Lighthouse, and assembled a panel of expert judges to select a winner and award commendations. We are grateful to NGS and The Lighthouse for providing their exhibition spaces to us free of charge, and to our late chair, Mark Baines, for providing a donation to cover the costs of mounting the exhibition.
The first prize was awarded to a proposal for a ‘Temple of Thought’ devised by two entrants from St Petersburg in Russia, which the judges praised for its architecturally powerful reinterpretation of the interior spaces in the building.
The Society then opened up the entries to a public vote, where anyone could select their favourite entry and comment on what they believed was the most appropriate use for Egyptian Halls. And we were delighted that the public responded to the poll in their hundreds.
We originally planned to announce the results of this at our annual Alexander Thomson lecture in April, however with the current pandemic that event was unfortunately cancelled, and we have subsequently been looking for an appropriate time at which to make this announcement. But given the outcome of the vote, and its relationship to the current public discussion about the way in which Glasgow as a city addresses its past this would appear a very relevant time to publish the result.
We are therefore pleased to announce that the winner of the public vote was Gavin Fraser from Polmont’s proposal for a ‘Museum of Slavery’, which was also one of the commended entries selected by our original panel of judges.
There have previously been calls for the establishment of a Scottish Museum of Empire, Colonialism, Slavery and Migration in Glasgow from the Coalition of Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), with Zandra Yeaman noting in 2018:
“Scotland’s role in empire, slavery and colonialism was massive. A museum that will help capture this history is essential – we can’t resolve the racial inequalities persisting today without understanding the history which brought us to this point.”
The Society fully supports CRER’s campaign to better educate the public about Glasgow’s past and the sources of wealth that played a significant part in building the city.
Glasgow councillor Graham Campbell previously suggested that the Gallery of Modern Art could be repurposed as a home for this institution, a fitting option given its origins as the mansion of a sugar baron. But this would be at the expense of an existing cultural institution, could the Egyptian Halls instead provide a prospective home for a use like this?
Whilst the building doesn’t have the historic relevance that GOMA does to Glasgow’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, it is still located in the heart of the city, close to the river, and to Jamaica St – so named for the connection between Scotland and Jamaica, the place where the majority of Scottish slavers were based.
And the building has been put to a similar use before. The building started off life as the home of the Egyptian Halls Fancy Bazaar Company, which was an emporium styled on the Egyptian Halls in London, and included exhibition space, lecture and performance spaces, a restaurant and market. This A-listed building has now been vacant for 40 years and was recently listed as one of the 14 most endangered cultural sites in Europe.
Zandra Yeaman, from the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, welcomed the support of the Alexander Thomson Society for a Scottish Museum of Empire, Slavery, Colonialism and Migration. She said “it’s particularly heartening to know that the hundreds of people who took part in the public vote also support this initiative. CRER has been campaigning for this for over a decade now, and even the Scottish Parliament have now shown their support. Community involvement and participation will be crucial to ensure the context and content of the museum credibly reflects the lives, origins and experiences of Black minority ethnic people in Scotland, and the task ahead is huge. We’ve asked the Scottish Government to fund a comprehensive scoping study to begin to make this a reality, and the use of the Egyptian Halls as a potential venue should definitely be explored further”
The Society’s poll further revealed that 100% of those who responded to the poll favoured the retention of the original building, with the majority favouring the use of the building as a cultural institution. Whilst a Change.org petition launched by the Society calling for the building to be saved has received 4,450 signatures. We are pleased to share Gavin’s proposal with you, which can be viewed below:
