John Anderson Campus

The John Anderson Campus, the main campus of The University of Strathclyde, is in Glasgow, Scotland. The campus is self-contained in its own area which straddles the Townhead and Merchant City districts on the north eastern side of the city centre, while being only minutes from the M8 Motorway, George Square and is located midway between Queen Street Railway Station and High Street station on the North Clyde Line.

The John Anderson Campus was originally the only site of Strathclyde University, with the Jordanhill Campus becoming incorporated in 1993. It is named after John H. D. Anderson (1726–1796), a former Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, who left instructions in his will with a large bequest to found "a place of useful learning for the good of mankind and the improvement of science". The result was a school for Glasgow, which would teach practical subjects appealing to people normally left out of the collegiate educational system, such as craftsmen and women from the city.

Anderson's Institution was established in 1796, renamed Anderson's University in 1828, partially to fulfil Anderson's vision of two universities in the city of Glasgow. In 1877, it was forced to remove the title of 'University' as it lacked a Royal Warrant for the claim, becoming Anderson's College.

Ten years later in 1887 it merged with the Allan Glen's School to become the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College. In 1912, the technical college was renamed the Royal Technical College, and became the Royal College of Science and Technology in 1956. It joined with the Scottish College of Commerce in 1964; later the same year, the merged institution became the University of Strathclyde.

Plans to expand the Royal College buildings had been mooted since the 1930s, and redundant housing on the northern section of John Street and Montrose Street was cleared in 1937 in preparation for this, however the war intervened and the plans were put on hold. Major post-war development of the campus resumed in 1956, when construction of the new Montrose Street block to the rear of the Royal College building began. The James Weir Building, as it would later be named, would house new accommodation for the Mechanical, Chemical and Production Engineering departments. Phase I of the James Weir was completed in 1958. A new students union building on John Street followed in 1959. A new Chemistry block (the Thomas Graham Building) was completed in 1962 in conjunction with Phase II of the James Weir which adjoined onto its eastern end. This completed the "Island Site" of the John Anderson Campus as it is now called.

Following the granting of university status to the Royal College in 1964, the campus grew in size rapidly, with most of the current academic buildings constructed during this period. Plans to redevelop the adjacent Richmond Street site had already begun in 1960 in collaboration with Glasgow Corporation, who had cleared the site of its slum housing. This development would provide a new library and central admin building (the McCance Building) which opened in 1964. The 13-storey office tower (Alec House) built as part of the same development struggled to find commercial tenants was eventually leased to the University in 1965 and renamed the Livingstone Tower, and would house various social sciences departments.

Prior to the 1960s, Balmanno Brae – the area bounded by North Portland Street, High Street, Cathedral Street and George Street had consisted mainly of tenement housing – much of which had deteriorated into slums. Following the 1940s Bruce Report, Townhead was designated a Comprehensive Development Area (CDA), the population was rehomed and all of the slums were demolished. The Colville and Architecture buildings were constructed on this space in 1966, followed by the John Anderson Building and Wolfson Centre in 1971 and 1972, respectively. The mid 1970s saw the business school buildings constructed – namely the Stenhouse (1973) and William Duncan (1977) buildings were completed at this time. The first of the student residences – Birkbeck Court – were constructed between 1972 and 1974.

In 1974, the University reached an agreement with the book publisher William Collins, Sons to acquire its former printing works at the eastern end of Cathedral Street and St James's Road. The University demolished all of the former Collins estate except for three buildings – the Curran Building (1981) was a former warehouse that was converted into a home for the Andersonian Library, the Lord Hope Building (1983) was an office block that was converted for academic use. One of the former Collins buildings at 181 St James's Road was also retained and is used as a workshop and base for the Estates Management group.