National Galleries of Scotland

In 1935, a major housing survey conducted in Glasgow revealed that an estimated 65,000 new homes were needed to resolve the city’s continuing overcrowding. Since only about half of these could be accommodated within its existing boundaries, Glasgow City purchased additional building land outside the city. From 1945 onwards, it built large-scale developments such as Castlemilk and annexed suburbs like Drumchapel. Whilst providing much-needed housing, these schemes did destroy close-knit Glasgow communities as thousands of people were forced to move to Outer Glasgow and beyond. Rather than making the case for social reform, the artist Joan Eardley documented the reality of Glasgow tenement street life before it completely disappeared under these measures.