Blog: Trongate

RKA’s Glasgow office is in the Merchant City area, located just off Trongate. The name of this thoroughfare has intrigued me since we moved in and is the subject of this blog.

Trongate is one of the oldest streets in the city of Glasgow, it begins at Glasgow (Mercat) Cross, where the steeple of the old Glasgow Tolbooth is situated, being the original centre of medieval Glasgow. The name Tron comes from the Scots word of Norman origin for weighing scales.

These weighing scales were a weighbeam erected in the mid-16th century, used for all goods requiring to be weighed for duty reasons, including from early shipping on the Clyde and connected on the key route through to Merchant City.

Sadly, there is no connection with the Movie Tron who’s name comes from Electronic. I can only hope that Tron was shown at GMAC film at 103 Trongate at some point in it’s history.

Two historic buildings that for me signify historic Trongate are the Tron Kirk and the Mercat Cross where Trongate splits into East and West traffic.

Tron Kirk’s steeple dates from 1631 and the building itself from 1793. Designed by Architect James Adam, brother of the more famous Scottish Architect Robert Adam. The Tron Kirk has a gorgeous dusty pink render (much like RKA’s 2 Castle Street, Anstruther!), split into 4 horizontal bands with a darker, deeper colour at the base. However, the blue clock is surely not original and rather cheapens the building.

Trongate today is the home of a major construction project – Scotland’s largest hotel! As part of a £300 million masterplan in the Merchant City area, the £50m 500 bed building for The Student Hotel company and Drum Property Group. It is being built by contractor Gilbert Ash and is designed by Architects Halliday Fraser Munro.

Works include hotel accommodation, co‐living and co‐working spaces, a bar and restaurant, conference rooms and fitness centre. External works comprise landscaped open spaces and accessible walkways with a new public square at its heart.

If you are in the Trongate area, come and visit us in Southblock, Wasp Studio.