Basic Site Details

Name: Paxtons Hotel
City or county: Glasgow
Country: Scotland
Parish:  
Status:  
Grid ref:
Notes: It is not clear where the name James Ritchie appeared.

The New Century Hotel, Glasgow about to be opened. Seven storeys, 400 bedrooms. Accommodation - 4/6 per week (22½p) [Manchester City News 13 April 1901 Page 4]

The New Century Hotel in Holm Street Glasgow was opened on the 10th inst. The building which is intended for the middle classes is 130 feet by 60 feet and has seven flats containing upwards of 400 bedrooms. The building is fitted with lifts and lit by electricity. Messrs Frank Burnet and Boston of Glasgow were the architects. [Builder 27 April 1901 Page 423]

Thomas Paxton:
The proprietor of the New Century Hotel was born in the village of Letham, near Cupar_Fife, in 1860, and came to Glasgow at the age of sixteen with less than the halfcrown of the legend in his pocket. On his three, and twentieth birthday he was appointed a detective officer in the Central Division of Glasgow City Police.

Finding small scope for his energies in that position, however, he in 1886 applied for and obtained the post of Manager of the City Improvement Trust Lodging_house in Gorbals. So successful was his management there that the establishment was nearly doubled in size under his rule. He became known as a leader of the movement for the housing of the working classes. Lord Rowton paid his establishment a visit and invited him to London to see the similar work there. While in the capital he discussed with General Booth the question of Metropolitan shelters for the poor, prior to the launching of the "Darkest England" scheme, and he was invited and urged to take charge of the lodging_house scheme of the London County Council.

This appointment he refused, and in 1895, giving up his appointment under the City Improvement Trust, he proceeded to found three large Model Lodging_Houses of his own. These are Carlton House, Gorbals, Rutland House, Plantation, and the Trades' Hotel, Clydebank. They are the only houses of the kind in which cooked food is supplied to the occupants, and so great has been the success of their general arrangements that at the New York Health Exhibition of 1900 their plans and methods were exhibited as models by Mr. Laurance Veiller, Secretary of the Tenement House Committee of the New York Charity Organisation Society.

Mr. Paxton next attacked the problem of a hotel for the artisan, and the result was his New Century Hotel in Holm Street. This new departure in cheap housing, "a halfway house between the model lodging and the west-end palace hotel," was opened by Lord Provost Chisholm at a dinner presided over by Mr. J. G. A. Baird, M.P., in April, 1901. It was the eve of Glasgow International Exhibition, and forthwith the house was filled to overflowing from basement to roof. It is fireproof, rat_proof, and plague-proof, contains four hundred bedrooms, and offers, among its amenities, bathrooms, lavatories, writing rooms, billiard rooms, students' rooms, and lifts to all floors. All this it offers with board and lodging, for 12s. 6d. per week, or with lodging, but without board, for 4s. or 4s. 9d. per week. Within the last few years, for the more efficient supplying of his boarders, Mr. Paxton has instituted stores whence supplies of all kinds are sent to his various establishments. These stores themselves bake all bread, manufacture all kinds of mineral water, and slaughter their own cattle and sheep. Altogether, by his vast organisation Mr. Paxton has gone farther perhaps than anyone to solve the problem of the housing of the working man.

Reference Who’s Who in Glasgow 1909 http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/eyrwho/eyrwho1410.htm

Alternative Names

The following alternative names are associated with this building/design:
 NameCurrent name?Notes
Item 1 of 1New Century Hotel  

Building Type Classification

The building is classified under the following categories:
 ClassificationOriginal classification?Notes
Item 1 of 1Hotel  

Street Addresses

The following street addresses are associated with this building:
 AddressMain entrance?Notes
Item 1 of 1Holm StreetYes 

Events

The following date-based events are associated with this building:
 FromToEvent typeNotes
Item 1 of 1c. 18981902  

People

Design and Construction

The following individuals or organisations have carried out design/construction work. Where architects or practices worked together, matching letters appear beside their names in the Partnership Group column.
 NameRolePartnership GroupFromToNotes
Item 1 of 6David Henry Hunter Ac. 1898c. 1902As apprentice/assistant to Burnet & Boston
Item 2 of 6Frank Burnet Ac. 1898(?)c. 1902(?)Probably involved, but may be by James Ritchie
Item 3 of 6Frank Burnet & Boston Ac. 1898(?)c. 1902(?)Probably involved, but may be by James Ritchie
Item 4 of 6James Carruthers Ac. 1898(?)c. 1902(?)As assistant or possibly partner to Burnet & Boston
Item 5 of 6William James Boston Ac. 1898(?)c. 1902(?)Probably involved, but may be by James Ritchie
Item 6 of 6Burnet, Boston & Carruthers  1902 Depending on dat, partnership with Carruthers may actually be responsible

Clients

The following individuals or organisations have commissioned work on this building/design:
 NameNotes
Item 1 of 2Paxton, Matthew 
Item 2 of 2Paxton, ThomasName of client given in most of journals see 'Who's who in Glasgow 1909' entry for detials about him.

References

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this building:
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 5BuilderLate 1892LXIII p423 Check date
Item 2 of 5Builder27 April 1901  p423
Item 3 of 5Building News12 April 1901  p521
Item 4 of 5Scotsman3 March 1901  p1
Item 5 of 5ScotsmanApril 190104  p6

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this building:
 SourceArchive nameSource catalogue no.Notes
Item 1 of 1RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert MuseumRIBA Nomination Papers David Henry Hunter: L v1 no84 (microfilm reel 29)