The entrance to the 1893 post and telegraph office on Colquhoun Street in Helensbugh. I love how it looks like a telegram boy wearing a cap with his employer's name emblazoned across it.
I love this little sculpted cat on a ledge of the Helensburgh Municipal Building. Apparently, it was based on a cat which was hanging around the site when this part of the building was being constructed on 1906.
It's actually quite surprising how often such statues of cats appear on older buildings, and even some newer ones!
A blue plaque on Ruskin Terrace in the West End of Glasgow marking the birth place of the actress Deborah Kerr. Born in 1921, she was the first Scot to be nominated for an acting Oscar, and she appeared in films such as From Here To Eternity and An Affair to Remember. In 1994, she was given an Academy Honorary Award for her dedication to acting.
@thisismyglasgow For years Helensburgh claimed Deborah Kerr as one of theirs, but it turned out she only lived there. I was quite chuffed thinking I shared my birthplace with a Holywood star and John Logie Baird 📺🎥#Helensburgh
Love this fantastic bit of curvilinear tracery on a Gothic Arched window of Helensburgh Parish Church. This church was designed by J.W. and J. Hay and was constructed in 1853.
The Henry Bell Monument in Helensburgh. Born in West Lothian in 1767, Bell became obsessed with the idea of using steam engines to power ships around 1800. While is early experiments were unsuccessful, he received enouragement from none other than Admiral Lord Nelson, who in 1803 told the Admiralty, "My Lords, if you do not adopt Mr Bell's scheme, other nations will, and in the end vex every vein of this empire. It will succeed ... and you should encourage Mr Bell.".
In 1808, Bell moved to Helensburgh and it was here he built his first successful steam-powered vessel, a paddlesteamer called Comet, in 1812 and used it to create Europe's first successful steam-powered passenger service running between Helensburgh, Glasgow and Greenock. In 1820, the Comet was shipwrecked near Oban, but was soon replaced by the PS Comet II.
In 1825, the Comet II sank after colliding with another ship, killing 62 of the 80 passengers. After this, Bell abandoned his interest in steam-powered nautical navigation and he died in Helensburgh just a few years later in 1830.
I came across this beautiful and ornate building number on 16 Colquhoun Street in Helensburgh today. I particularly like the Disgorging Green Man at the bottom, a very appropriate symbol to come across as we move towards Spring.
The West Kirk (now Helensburgh Parish Church) on Colquhoun Square in Helensburgh to the west of Glasgow. Built in a Gothic style, it was originally designed by J.W. and J. Hay. The porch in the foreground was added by William Leiper in 1892.
One of the absolutely gorgeous lampshades designed by Glasgow architect Charles Rennie MacKintosh in the first years of the 20th Century for Hill House in Helensburgh.
One of the main living areas in Charles Rennie MacKintosh's Hill House in Helensburgh. I'm always surprised at how contemporary MacKintosh's interiors look, despite being created in the early 1900s.
Love this stylised flower motif on a bedroom wardrobe in Charles Rennie MacKintosh's Hill House in Helensburgh. It's a perfect example of the timeless beauty of his work.
Commissioned by the Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie and completed in 1904, this is one of Charles Rennie MacKintosh's masterpieces, both inside and out.
It's undergoing preservation work and currently the entire house is enclosed on a metal cage. However, stairways have been included as part of this cage so you can view the house from angles that would just not be possible from the ground.