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Theatre Royal disaster

1849 in Scotland19th century in GlasgowHuman stampedes in the United KingdomMan-made disasters in Scotland

On 19 February 1849, a crowd crush occurred at the Theatre Royal, Dunlop Street, Glasgow when audience members rushed to escape the building during a fire. While the fire itself was extinguished quickly, building occupants on the lower floors who observed commotion above them in the upper gallery did not realize this and rushed for exits. Panic led to a crush at the theatre's doorway, where 65 guests were killed and dozens injured.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Theatre Royal disaster (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Theatre Royal disaster
Stockwell Place, Glasgow Merchant City

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N 55.856 ° E -4.2518 °
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Stockwell Place
G1 4HS Glasgow, Merchant City
Scotland, United Kingdom
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St. Enoch Centre
St. Enoch Centre

The St. Enoch Centre is a shopping mall located in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. The centre is located adjacent to St Enoch Square. The Architects were the GMW Architects. The construction, undertaken by Sir Robert McAlpine, began in 1986, and the building was opened to the public on 25 May 1989. It was officially opened by the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in February of the following year.Located on the site of the former St Enoch Station, the building is just off Glasgow's famous shopping thoroughfare, Argyle Street and overlooks the historic St. Enoch Square and the original subway station building. The present St Enoch subway station is accessible by escalators. Whilst the target of many architectural critics, the building is notable for its massive glass roof, which makes it the largest glass-covered enclosed area in Europe. Not only does this substantially reduce heating and lighting loads – the mall area is lit entirely by natural daylight in summer, whilst the solar heat generated by the roof means that mechanical heating is only required for a week on average per year – it also earned the building its affectionate nickname "The Glasgow Greenhouse". The roof's steel framework was fabricated by the shipbuilders Scott Lithgow.The glass roofed element surrounds a seven-storey car park, and when originally opened, an ice rink. This was closed in 1999 when a refurbishment programme (initiated to compete with the newer Buchanan Galleries complex), saw it being replaced by more shops and an enlarged restaurant area.

The Metropole Theatre

The Metropole Theatre started as the Scotia and was built in 1862 at 116, Stockwell Street, Glasgow, Scotland. Built to the designs of architect Robert Black for James Baylis, who later built the Theatre Royal in the Cowcaddens area of the city, it opened as the Scotia Hall, holding over 3000 people, with stalls and two galleries, reputed to be the first purpose built commercial music-hall in Scotland. Due to fire in 1875 it was rebuilt to the designs of architects Campbell Douglas and James Sellars and renamed The Scotia Variety Theatre, claiming to be the largest and best variety company in Scotland.The Baylis family headed by Christina Baylis continued to run it until 1892, selling it on her retiral to Moss Empires who ran it until 1897 when they opened their new Empire Palace in Sauchiehall Street. At this point Edward Moss leased the theatre to HH Morrell and F Mouillot who named it The Metropole and presented plays, usually melodramas. Successive lessees included Arthur Jefferson who reintroduced variety. In 1926 it was sold to Bernard Frutin whose family continued to present variety, summer shows and winter shows for four decades, until fire destroyed the building on 28 October 1961.Thereafter the Frutins bought the former Empress Theatre in St George's Cross in the West End of the city which in 1960 had been renamed The Falcon Theatre run by the Falcon Trust who staged plays and hoped to extend the building. The funding was not available for an extension and proposed performing Arts Centre and instead it was purchased by Alec Frutin in 1962 as a replacement for his former theatre in Stockwell Street. The St George's Cross building now opened as the New Metropole.In 1964 Jimmy Logan, by agreement with Alec Frutin, bought the theatre, renaming it Jimmy Logan's Metropole. It prospered with variety, comedy plays, winter shows, and a Royal Variety Gala jointly with Scottish Television but found itself in an area which Glasgow Corporation was depopulating to peripheral housing schemes. The musical Hair opened in 1970 and ran for 10 months, its first outing outside London. Despite this success the theatre now drained money and closed in 1972. It lay derelict for many years before finally being demolished for a new housing development in 1990.