Southern Motors operated out of a showroom and garage on the corner of Pollokshaws Road and Titwood Road, on land owned by the Wright family. Their plans for this land appear to have changed more than once.
The Cottages
Where the BP Garage sits now, there were once two substantial houses that dated from the 1850s or earlier. These were Springhill and Greenhill Cottages, at 898 and 910 Pollokshaws Road respectively. Springhill Cottage took its name from the nearby Springhill House – as did the red sandstone tenements of Springhill Gardens (built 1904-6, architect John Nisbet) which replaced the house.
OS Map 1893. Source: NLS Maps
The cottages were regularly let to a variety of inhabitants. One, the builder Henry Murphy, lived in Springhill Cottage in 1873 while erecting the blond sandstone tenement (952 & 960) that now houses Sweeney’s on the Park . There were supposed to be three shops at ground level, but only the pub remains – note the odd windows at ground level next time you walk past.
Description of Mr Murphy’s new tenement. North British Daily Mail, 17 April 1871. Source: BNA
In the 1910s the same house was occupied by John Campbell, a “herbalist and skin remedy expert” who sold some snake-oil type skin cream he claimed could cure a multitude of skin diseases. “My Domino brand ointment (formerly known as Gypsy Ointment) is the best ever discovered … Guaranteed to cure most hopeless cases.” Gypsy ointment. Yeah, right.
John Campbell of Springhill Cottage. My Domino brand ointment is the best ever discovered. Aberdeen Evening Express, 29 August 1917. Source: BNA
Jump forward to 1927, when the builder James Wright was buying up the land to build Strathbungo’s gardens. It turns out he also bought the two cottages, and their associated land. His younger brother Gavin moved into Greenhill Cottage.
Their first act was to erect a small row of shops on the land at the corner of Pollokshaws Road and Titwood Road. There was a cabinetmakers and upholsterers at no. 862, run by Charles W Anderson, who was also renting Springhill Cottage. There was a small builder’s office for Gavin Wright at 864 and a newsagents at 866.
Newsagent (866) and builder’s office (864), February 1927. Mislabelled as 782 Pollokshaws Road in the Virtual Mitchell. Source: Glasgow City Archives 8-2463
Charles Anderson, Cabinetmaker at 862 Pollokshaws Road. Source: Glasgow City Archives 8-2463
The following year they submitted a plan for a more substantial row of shops, with flats above, in the style of the houses they were building in the gardens and on Titwood Road, using their usual architects, Gardner & Glen. This was never built however, for reasons unknown.
Wright’s Garage
A year later they submitted a further plan, a covered garage that would occupy the site of Greenhill Cottage, with two entrances off the main road. Once again Gardner & Glen were the architects, but once again it came to nothing.
Pollokshaws Road elevation, 1929, by Gardner & Glen. Source: Glasgow City Archives, 1929/265
Plan showing extent of proposed garage, shaded pink. Note the red outline showing the land owned by James Wright. His houses on Titwood Road are already complete and occupied. Note also the outline of the previous proposal for shops and flats is included on the plans, bottom right. The site is now a BP forecourt. Source: Glasgow City Archives
With neither plan coming to fruition, the cottages and small shops lived on, for a while at least. James Wright died in a car crash in 1933, and the land passed to his family trustees.
OS Map 1935, showing the two cottages, and the row of small shops on the corner of the now realigned Titwood Road. Source: NLS Maps
Southern Motors
On 5 June 1937 The Scotsman reported the formation of Southern Motors (Glasgow) Ltd by one W.M. Wright, a motor agent of 32 Newark Drive. Mr Wright turns out to be William Moffat Wright, James Wright’s son . Plans had been submitted the previous autumn for a new garage on the site of the small shops at the corner of Pollokshaws Road and Titwood Road. Wright turned to the family’s architects once more, but by this time William Glen had left for London to become architect to Associated British Cinemas Ltd and Albert Gardner continued in Glasgow with new partner Gavin Thomson . The small shops were demolished and the new showroom at 862 Pollokshaws Road was ready by March 1937. A headed letter found amongst architectural plans dated 3 March 1937 tells us he was in business, with one L.K. Scott, selling Pontiac and British Salmson cars.
Plan of proposed new motor showroom at Pollokshaws Road and Titwood Road, with fuel pumps on Titwood Road, Sep 1936. The roof structure is still clearly evident in the building today. Source: GCA
Southern Motors Garage, Pollokshaws Road at Titwood Road, now McMillan’s. The windows suggest they were agents for Austin, Ford, and perhaps Talbot, March 1937. Source: Glasgow City Archives
Rear of Southern Motors, showing petrol pumps on Titwood Road, 1937. Source: GCA
Meanwhile in 1936 Gavin Wright had another small office built in his garden at Greenhill Cottage, abutting the gable end of Springhill Gardens, to replace the one being demolished for Southern Motors.
Gavin Wright’s new office, abutting Springfield Gardens, which was still present on the 1952 map below. Source: GCA
The fate of Southern Motors is unclear. The company was wound up in 1955 , yet Southern Motors remained listed there in the PO Directories until at least 1978, and also hosted a HM Customs & Excise / Ministry of Transport tax office in the 60s. There is a clue in planning applications to alter the building in 1968 and 1973. They were submitted by the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (SWCS), who appeared to have acquired the garage (along with most of the other industrial buildings in Titwood Road). The changes aimed to convert the garage space to the rear to more showroom space.
The building later became a carpet warehouse, and apparently at one point a gospel hall. It survived relatively unaltered despite a period of abandonment and was eventually restored in the 2010s by the McMillan family. It now houses The McMillan Bar & Chop House.
The abandoned furniture warehouse in 1996. Source: Strathbungo Society Newsletter
BP Garage
Even as Southern Motors was being completed, in December 1936 Wright’s architects Gardner and Thomson were submitting plans for another garage on the adjacent land, this time with a forecourt on the site of Springfield Cottage, and a large garage at the back, where Caldwell-Wright sits now. Yet a month later the entire plan was revised, with a garage roughly where the current M&S shop sits and a forecourt on the site of the current car park to the side of the shop. Springfield Cottage was demolished, and the plan was executed, as it appears as such on the 1952 OS map. The cottage is just out of shot in the picture of Southern Motors above, though there does seem to be a large wooden prop where it should have been. Greenhill Cottage lasted longer; Gavin Wright was resident at least until 1941, and the cottage remained in the 1960s. Sadly there are no known pictures of the cottages.
William Wright’s modified plan for new garage on site of Springfield Cottage. Source: GCA Plans 1937/125
OS Map 1952. Springhill Cottage has been replaced by a garage, but Greenhill Cottage (910) survives. Southern Motors (862) is also visible. Source: NLS Maps
In March 1969, proposals were submitted to reconfigure the Pond Filling Station, as it was by then known, presumably in reference to the pond across the road in Queens Park. The garage was by this stage operated by Shell & BP Scotland, under their “National” brand. (Shell & BP operated as a single venture in the UK until 1976.)
The new design involved loss of Greenhill Cottage, a much larger forecourt and a smaller, low and thinner building at the back of the site – this was to be pure filling station with no garage. The plans required removal of a tree on the pavement in front of the cottage, but the retention of (hopefully) two others. Only one of these trees survived; it is still standing there today. Note also Southern Motors next door is owned by SWCS at this point.
Front elevation of the new shop, complete with “National” branding and glazed asbestos panelling! Source: GCA Plans 1969/755
Plan of site including enlarged forecourt. Source: GCA Plans 1969/755
OS Map 1972. Both cottages are now gone. Source: NLS Maps
The current building and forecourt date from a further reconstruction circa 1998.
Caldwell-Wright
James Wright also owned the plot of land behind the BP garage, on Waverley Street. The building there first appeared on maps between 1952 and 1964. This is now occupied by the architectural ironmongery and pest control business Caldwell-Wright, but while I have wondered if this started out as another Wright family business, I have not been able to make that connection. Does anyone from the firm know? The 1972 OS map (above), however, marks it as a hospital supplies warehouse, and around this time the PO Directory lists it as yet another site in the area managed by the Co-op.
So that’s at least four different garage buildings on the one short stretch of Pollokshaws Road, plus a couple of designs that got away.
Additions and corrections are welcome.
July 23, 2024 at 9:10 pm
Andrew I think you are a bit harsh on Mr, Campbell and his “Domino Brand Ointment” I have a trifling condition of an intimate nature and a wee dab of “Domino” might just have done the trick.
Interesting article….that entire area has always struck me as being underpopulated compared to the surroundings. Interesting to know it’s history
August 2, 2024 at 12:36 pm
You refer to the (now The McMillan) building being occupied in the 1960s by an ‘HM Customs & Excise/Ministry of Transport tax office’. What I remember about the building is that MoT driving tests were run from there, as I took my test in 1965 or 1966.
As regards Caldwell-Wright, I’m pretty sure that the name is a coincidence, as the Wright of Caldwell-Wright was the late W Stewart Wright, a builder and surveyor, who hailed from Newton Mearns.
Many thanks for your most interesting article.