Region ID

Work ID

Manual Reference

Title

Sculptor

Architect

Builder

Restorer

Date of design

Year of unveiling

Unveiling details

Road

Precise Location

A to Z Ref

OS Ref

Postcode

Work is

Listing Status

Duty of Care

Commissioned by

Notes

Standing portrait statues of George and Thomas Hutcheson

The statues were originally set in niches on the north side of the tower of the original Hutcheson's Hospital. This was situated at the south end of the present Hutcheson Street. The statues originally overlooked the hospital garden until c. 1796, when the property was sold for the development of the street. The statues were removed prior to the demolition of the building at a cost of £2 3s 6d sterling (paid on 24 Feb 1796); and were stored in the Merchants Houe in the Bridgegate. They remained there until 1817 when that building was demolished. During this time the new Hutcheson's Hospital was erected in Ingram Street (at a cost of £5,244 16s 1d) and, presumably, in anticipation of their being placed on the façade, the architect and marble worker W. Reid (of King Street, Tradeston) was paid £14 11s in 1805 for "work about the old statues of the Founders. The exact nature of his work has not yet been researched. However, he may have been responsible for designing and making the pedestals and removing the original polychrome paint from the statues. (1) Entries in the Minutes of the Patrons record details on the same subject (16 March 1806) and later record that the statues were placed in the niches of the new hospital building in 1824, at a cost of £26. There is no explanation as to why there was such a long delay in erecting the statues on the new façade. The statues were scraped early in the 20th century to identify the stone: 'It was long understood that these were carved from blocks of marble brought from London. The block, however, came from Loudoun in Ayrshire, and the mistake arose from the fact that the Latin word "marmor" [trans: marble] was also [used in Scotland] for our native hard sandstone. The statues were recently scraped and their origin verified"

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Whole

Freestone

Previous treatments

Statues were painted

None

None