Standing in St Enoch Square in Glasgow is a small sandstone building surrounded by modern developments. Today, it has been adapted for commercial use, but its history goes back to the early days of underground railway engineering. Built in 1896, the former St Enoch Subway Station is one of the remaining landmarks associated with Glasgow’s historic subway system.
Designed by Scottish architect James Miller, the building originally served as the booking office and headquarters of the Glasgow District Subway Railway Company. The Glasgow Subway opened on 14 December 1896 and is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world, after London and Budapest.
Perhaps the most interesting engineering story came much later. During the major modernisation of the Subway in 1977, the underground station beneath St Enoch had to be reconstructed. Rather than demolishing the historic building above, it was temporarily supported and jacked up while construction work was carried out underneath.
Today, the building serves a completely different purpose, but it is still standing. I would probably have walked past it without knowing its history. Knowing how it was preserved during the reconstruction certainly made me look at this small building differently.
Ir Prof Dr Zuhaina Zakaria
Chair,
IEM Women Engineers Section
