Wills factory, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow – architect unknown – date 1940s?
Crikey, I am surprised – I can’t find any info on who originally designed this Glasgow landmark, or when. As you can see in the photos, it’s been recently redeveloped into a business park. Admittedly I’ve been struggling to get my paws and claws around the pages of any books, so maybe haven’t researched as hard as I could, but I’d love any more facts if you’ve got any.
I don’t even know what fags they used to make here…
believe it or not, this building was designed in 1946-53 by Imperial Tobacco Company’s Engineers Office. They had a similar building in Newcastle I think….
My late grandfather, Cecil Hockin, was the chief structural engineer of imperial tobacco and who was the architect for the Newcastle upon Tyne factory.
I believe this was also designed by my late grandfather, Cecil Hockin, who designed the Newcastle upon Tyne factory.
I worked in the wills factory in Glasgow in the 70s. it was a great company to work for.
There is a similar building in newcastle upon tyne. which has been converted into residential flats and ofcourse is a listed building. You can go on the web and get all the
history of the wills building in newcastle but there doesn!t seem to be much history on the net about the wills factory in Glasgow. but the history about the newcastle factory will be much the same as the glasgow factory. They are both beautiful buildings.
Trainspotting was filmed here, they built the sets and had their production offices here.