Historical Development
George Square was laid out in 1781, part of the innovative Georgian central grid plan that initially spanned from Stockwell Street east to Buchanan Street—which reflected the growing rational influence of the Scottish Enlightenment, along with the similar development of Edinburgh's New Town. This grid iron masterplan across the lands of Meadowflats and eventually as far west as Blythswood Hill, was largely the work of the notable contemporary architects James Barry, James Craig and James Gillespie Graham.
For the first few years however it was little more than a muddy hollow, filled with dirty water and used for slaughtering horses. Between 1787 and the 1820s, the square was eventually opened up and lined with Georgian townhouses at its east and west ends, as well as hotels. 1842 saw the opening of Queen Street Station as the Glasgow terminus of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. By 1850 the surrounding area had become a centre for mercantile activity, with the Merchants House moving to the square in 1877, and the square itself, which had been developed into a private garden for the surrounding townhouses, became an established public space, after frequent disturbances and pulling down of railings by a disgruntled mob.
The square was named after King George III, a statue of whom was originally intended to occupy the centre of the square, but the turmoil and anxiety caused to the city's Tobacco Lords by the War of American Independence in 1775 and eventual British defeat in 1783, coupled with his ever more frequent bouts of madness had created mixed feelings toward the Hanoverian and so it was decided instead to commemorate Sir Walter Scott, which, incidentally, was the first ever memorial dedicated to him. The 80 foot Doric column is by Alexander Handyside Ritchie, "an architectural sculptor of genius", and the sculpture of Scott above it was by John Greenshields. Both were completed between 1834-37, some years before Scott was commemorated in Edinburgh.
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