Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Scotland, 1909

About this postcard

Looking along Buchanan Street, Glasgow, with tall sandstone commercial buildings on both sides, shop windows at street level, an ornate cast-iron lamp, and pedestrians in Edwardian dress sharing the roadway with horse-drawn vans and cabs. Tram rails run down the centre of the setts. Laid out in the 1770s as a residential street, Buchanan Street had become one of Glasgow's principal shopping thoroughfares by the early 20th century, lined with the warehouses and emporia that gave the city its commercial character. The mix of horse traffic and tram rails reflects a city then served by an extensive tram network.