St Charles' Oratory, Kelvinside Gardens

Designed by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia, this church is slap bang in the middle of a rather desirable Victorian neighbourhood. It's perched on top of a hill and has a set of steps down to lower streets next to it.

I was slightly losing my marbles this afternoon, as I was running late for an appointment and for some reason got myself into the wrong lane at the traffic lights. But I just remembered I could park near here and walk down the steps, and get a blip, so I swerved up the hill and luckily found a precious free parking spot. I was only about 5 mins late....

I love this sort of thing. I'm not sure why, but, well-kept, these buildings do speak of the optimism of the post-war years. I went to the exhibition and bought the book 'n'everything. They must have been on a retainer with the Catholic Church, and their most famous building, St Peter's College (Cardross Seminary), is a bit of a cause celebre due to its current condition (or lack thereof). It's actually quite shocking how many of their buildings have been demolished, within a few decades. Many of those that remain are now listed.

I'm rather jealous of Booky Goatherd's access to some Eastern European examples of this type of architecture.

Side view (from the bottom of the steps)

Many thanks for your congratulations and encouragement for my 730th blip - I've made some lovely friends on here! I'm going to stick around, but I might get ever more 'flexible'!