Irvine From The Air (mid 1970s?) - by Crawford Fulton
This photo was taken from George McMaster's Collection. It shows the impact of the Irvine Development Corporation's town centre redevelopment in a very dramatic way. With the exception of a solitary building on Montgomery Street, Central Fullarton has been obliterated to make way for the shopping centre (here shown with its original roof, over which a second was built within a few years of its opening, as roof No.1 leaked like a sieve). You can clearly see how out of scale the office blocks are, both west and east of the River Irvine (we are looking due east). Bridgegate House (the eastern block) , in particular, dwarfs the medieval heart of this ancient town. The recent refurbishment of this eyesore is deeply to be regretted - an opportunity to demolish it and replace it with something more sympathetic has been lost for a few more years. In this image we see the unholy alliance of inept town planning with crassly insensitive architecture.
