Hunting Architectural Treasures in Glasgow: A Traveler’s Guide

IT WAS A GRAY Glasgow day and we were walking through the gritty Govan neighborhood past nail salons, Pakistani delis and rundown pubs occupying storefronts of handsome redbrick row houses with bay windows—evidence of better times. “Glasgow was to ships what Detroit was to the automobile industry,” said my traveling companion, John Henry, a maritime history buff, as we reached our destination, the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering building. In the enormous, loft-like rooms of this immense Beaux-Arts structure—its facade lined with statues of shipbuilders and engineers striking heroic poses—plans for ocean liners...