Allan Bovill: Steamies @ Street Level Photoworks

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Allan Bovill: Steamies @ Street Level Photoworks

January 7th, 2015 by fstop

Allan Bovill: Steamies
10th January – 13th February 2015

Glasgow had many public laundries and bathhouses, known as ‘steamies’. They were established in the 18th Century and operated until the mid-1990s, when they closed their doors. The council-run laundries provided washing facilities and baths when few houses, particularly in the 19th Century, had either. Perhaps more importantly, they provided a crucial social focus and community for many local people.

The social significance of the laundries was memorably captured in Tony Roper’s well known play ‘The Steamie’, first performed in 1987. This exhibition of black and white photographs, by Glasgow-based professional photographer Allan Bovill, provides an insight into the steamies of the 1980s when they were starting to head into decline as more people began to own their own washing machines., The photographs were taken in 1988 and are of three steamies in and around Glasgow city centre – Maryhill, Reidvale, and Osborne Street, which is now home to The Modern Institute.

Hillhead Library
48 Byres Road, Glasgow, G12 8AP. Tel 0141 276 1617Street Level Photoworks

Location: Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom Type:

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