Irvine Rivergate Shopping Centre Postcard (mid to late 1970s) - by Crawford Fulton
This is a view of the interior of Irvine's shopping centre, which opened in 1975. You can make out the Victorian Wilson Fullarton Church through the windows to the right. These windows are now partially obscured by a cafe. Please note the light coming in from the upper left, this was through a series of clerestory windows; you can make out their counterparts to the right (the light from these being less intense than their opposite numbers, due to their northern, as opposed to southern aspect). Unfortunately, all these upper windows were blocked off around 1980, when a second roof was required to be added on top of the original one; this was due to significant problems with water ingress, which had existed before the centre opened (the first roof leaked like a sieve). The mall now requires a significant amount of artificial light, as can be seen in this photo, taken in 2009: www.flickr.com/photos/crawfordfulton/5153285693/in/set-72...
NEW TOWN CENTRE - by Crawford Fulton
This time we're having a quick look at the IDC's plans for the Mall. As you can see from the illustration, the idea was to have a vast structure running from west of the Cross, right along to the Pilot's House. In the area east of the railway bridge, it would be made up of shops, offices and an integrated new railway station; to the west of the station would be a monorail (very trendy in the 60s) which would link pedestrians and rail passengers through an area of offices, civic buildings, a college, housing, a hotel, various leisure uses (cinema. concert hall, etc.), a marina and a leisure centre to the mouth of the harbour. The problems with the design are obvious: phased developments of this nature are seldom completed as planned, you are doomed to end up with a pig's breakfast; the individual bits of the plan are dependent on the others in order for them to work visually, they do not serve as 'stand alone' elements; what looks good on a model (especially, big bold lines and shapes), tends to look crude and brutal at 1:1 scale; and of course, in creating this 'vision' you are destroying the heart of the Fullarton community, demolishing a 400 year old bridge and seriously compromising the setting of an important medieval Scots Royal Burgh.
Had this whole sorry episode been avoided, through the creation of a new centre at Stanecastle, Irvine could have become a major tourism destination; especially as public interest in heritage gained momentum from the mid-70s onwards.
The Water Bridge and Low Green (1971-2) - by Crawford Fulton
This photo was taken by George McMaster from one of the Fullarton Flats. The first demolitions, to make way for the creation of the Rivergate Shopping Centre, can be seen on the right (just behind the shop units at the foot of Bridgegate). If you look to the top of the picture, there is no sign of the construction of the Northern Approach Road nor of the bridge which serves it.
Irvine 600 Pageant, Meadow Park, 1972 - by Crawford Fulton
This photograph was donated to The Irvine Archive by Nora Ridley.
