The Glasgow park created to push up property prices in West End

In fact, part of the reason it was created was to push up property prices in this upmarket city neighbourhood.

Formed around the River Kelvin which runs through it, and overlooked by the grand Park Terrace and Park Circus on one side and the imposing Glasgow University buildings on the other, it offers a place to relax or exercise whilst escaping the urban landscape.

It is also home to wildlife such as herons, squirrels, ducks, foxes and even otters. One thing that struck me when I first came to Glasgow was how well used the parks were, particularly Kelvingrove, with its mix of students and office workers having a quick coffee and sandwich seated by the 190m-plus herbaceous border; concertgoers at the 1904 B-listed bandstand (restored and reopened in 2013); and families taking a walk after visiting the fantastic Art Gallery and Museum.

Kelvingrove Bandstand crowds, c1935 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Part of the park’s lands were originally owned by Lord Provost Patrick Colquhoun, who named them Kelvingrove. Around 1782-83 he built a mansion with gardens, Kelvingrove House, on the site of what is now Kelvingrove Museum.

READ MORE: Iconic Glasgow pub is a 'time capsule' to the 1960s

John Pattison purchased the estate in 1792 and extended it to the north. Pattison sold the house and lands three years later to the Dennistouns, a merchant family. In 1841 Colin McNaughton, another merchant, acquired the estate.

Aerial view of Kelvingrove Park and Park Circus (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Eventually, in 1852, Glasgow Town Council purchased the Kelvingrove lands, along with neighbouring parts of the Woodlands estate, for more than £77,000, with the aim of forming a public parkland space.

In 1884 more lands at Clayslaps, Overnewton and Kelvinbank were purchased to increase the size of the park.

The large costs would be recovered by the council by feuing prime land up on the hill - the now prestigious Park Circus complex.

Indeed, part of the reason for creating the park was to increase the value of local property in the vicinity by adding an appealing and fashionable green space. The West End Park, as it was then named, was mostly aimed at the middle classes who were settling in Glasgow’s West End.

READ MORE: How Glasgow's grid layout helped it become a movie location hotspot

Commerce was not the only reason for Glasgow Town Council to create the park. The growth of the industrial revolution and huge surge in population in Glasgow, as in many cities, had severely limited outdoor space. Rises of outbreaks of cholera, along with general ill health and overcrowding, were driving factors in the break up of urban sprawl by establishing places to walk, take the air and rest from city life.

Sir Joseph Paxton, head gardener at Chatsworth House, who was famous for his plans of Crystal Park in London, was employed to landscape the park.

Later he would be responsible for the design of Glasgow’s Queens Park. Landscaping began in 1853 following a typical Victorian design. Park Circus architect Charles Wilson and park surveyor Thomas Kyle also had a large input into the design.

Charles Wilson's design for West End Park, 1851 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

In 1888 the park was seen as a fitting location for the International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art, a showcase of Glasgow’s achievements as the Second City of the Empire. Opened by Queen Victoria and attended by more than five million people, the event raised enough money for a new municipal museum, today’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Such was the exhibition’s success that it led to two other similar events at the park, Glasgow’s International Exhibition in 1901, and the smaller scale Scottish National Exhibition in 1911.

Although most of the structures created for these vast exhibitions - such as a ‘switchback’ railway, water chute and a reproduction of Glasgow’s Bishop Castle - were only temporary, some elements are still there.

Port Sunlight Cottage, 1901 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Parts of James Miller’s 1901 Port Sunlight Cottages and the An Clachan boulder (from the 1911 display recreating a highland village), for example, remain.