Art Deco architecture, Renfrewshire

Am I in Perivale? Is this the A40? No, I'm just north of Glasgow Airport (or at least I was on Wednesday). I arrive with a full three hours to spare, so time for a walk around the perimeter. And in the village of Inchinnan, I come across this building, which looks like it's been lifted out of West London (the Western Avenue, or maybe the Great West Road). Look familiar, West Londoners?

This splendidly restored piece of industrial Art Deco architecture was designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, who also designed the Hoover building on the Western Avenue, the Firestone factory, the Pyrene factory and the Coty factory on the Great West Road. The stretch of the Great West Road between the Chiswick Roundabout and Gillette Corner, dubbed the Golden Mile, remains famous for the splendour of its inter-war industrial architecture. (Unforgivably, the Firestone factory was pulled down on August Bank Holiday 1980, just ahead of its listing as a heritage building.)

Below: a close-up of the main entrance. Built in 1930, this used to be a tyre factory, but has now been converted into offices, and a beautiful job has been done here to preserve the period features of this building.

North of the border, it is Historic Scotland (the Scottish equivalent of English Heritage) that is responsible for listing heritage buildings.Unlike Liverpool, which boasts a wealth of Art Deco, Glasgow and its surrounding towns did not see much of this style, nor indeed has much of what was built across Scotland been preserved.

And for those who don't know the Hoover Building in Perivale, here it is (below); built in 1933 it displays many of the same features present in the India of Inchinnan building, although the setting December sun (I took this photo in 2008) gives the white-tiled facade a warmer glow.

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