Turning towards Templeton: Glasgow’s best building

What life lessons can be learnt from an old carpet factory?

Grandiose and glorious, Templeton on the Green in the East End is my favourite building in the city. It is made from the west of Glasgow’s signature red sandstone and is bold and beautiful in its appearance and energy. Decorated with yellow and black bricks, round windows, and turrets, it is great in size and design.

Built in 1892, what makes Templeton so special is that it started life off as a carpet factory. As the powerhouse for James Templeton & Co, it propelled the business forward, helping it become one of the leading carpet manufacturers in Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth century. The exterior pattern designed by William Leiper reflects the patterns weaved inside its four walls.

For me, weaving is the most interesting form of art. It has a rich past dating back to antiquity and has gone through changes from medieval to modern times. It has a history that is intertwined with women, work and wealth. From tapestries to carpets, the sheer skill and number of hours needed to produce a small pattern or image is incredible. Industrial changes over time have made weaving a quicker process, but one that still requires a high level of skill.

The carpets weaved inside the Templeton factory are notable for the artistry they display. The designs are a far cry from plain single-coloured weaves and include depictions of Glasgow’s coat of arms, trees of knowledge and the classic paisley pattern. A carpet might not be your first point of call when you think of works of art, but in my opinion, they can be as valid a form as a painting or sculpture.

Templeton carpets are not only a work of art in their own right, they have been a source of inspiration for other artists. Elizabeth Price’s digital artwork Underfoot was on display at the Hunterian Art Gallery in 2022 and the message she conveyed left such a great impression on me that I still think about it to this day. She depicts the relationship between the actual images on Templeton carpets and the connotations that these designs have in particular physical spaces. For example, there are plenty of floral carpets in the Mitchell Library. The noise, or lack thereof, of stepping on a carpet is much like stepping on flowers. It is soft and serene, the perfect sound for a quiet, comfortable and cosy library building. Price made me realise that the spaces we stand on have a greater impact on our minds than we may initially think and can influence our moods and feelings. Yet, beneath our feet, things often look quite miserable.

Apart from inside Glasgow’s public institutions, when was the last time you stepped on a highly patterned carpet? For many, the answer is in an elderly person’s house which is often decorated with carpets that were laid in the 1970s and have never been changed since.

Nowadays, carpets are normally some form of beige or grey. For some, this is a versatile choice that won’t date. For me, it reflects the state of society. The colours beige and grey are dull, bland and boring. It’s a push to even call them colours, they are more shades of nothingness.  

In our culture that values hard work over play, bland colours are an obvious choice. People put so much pressure on themselves to get things done that time spent choosing between roses or lilies on the floor isn’t exactly a productive use of time. In the short intervals spent away from work, time is often invested into improving fitness at the gym, or doing productive hobbies that are aimed at self-improvement. Perhaps, where everything went wrong was when carpets full of fun, colour and life were lifted and replaced, representing a cultural shift centring around the daily grind rather than frivolities that can be enjoyed in the day-to-day.

If we were all to have leaves, trees and flowers dance around our feet, there might be more space in life for fun and rest. Nature could always be brought into spaces through images, which might remind everyone to take a step back and nurture the self and the body rather than push it to its limits.

Templeton on the Green has closed its doors to carpet making. The building now functions as flats and is the home to WEST’s beer hall. Notably, it hasn’t been turned into an office building. The colourful spirit still seeps out of the building today. You can feel it when you visit. It is a space that cares for comfort and community and reminds us all that we should all invite more leisure into our lives.