These two photos are of course the Jerusalem Houses in High Blantyre. Taken in 1975 or so by Drew Semple, the pictures show the houses well before the pitched roofs were added. The flat roofs lending a nickname of ‘Jerusalem’. These are popular and prominent houses in Blantyre. In the photo which shows the houses on a boundary with the Kirkton Avenue earlier estate from the 1950s, you’ll see new flats. Until recently I forgot those flats had been there and it’s noted these are now demolished. I’d love to know more why the flat were pulled down, so perhaps people can tell me? Was there a fire? Or being on the location of the former Dixons Colliery, did subsidence affect them?
Working in construction, I have to wonder at the logic of developers in the 1970’s putting flat roofs on homes with rainfall and wind like Scotland has. It seemed a bizarre decision that would always require later further consideration. On a lighter note, I did laugh when I heard of a few occasions where people were on their roofs, sunbathing in those hot 70s summers!
