Here we present material that could be described as Tours. More items will be added over time. At present we have ideas for two more tours - one a slideshow and one an "architectural walk in".

The Lighthouse Project

"Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956-1987 celebrated the work of one of Scotland's most heralded 20th century architecture practices. It comprised a major exhibition, book, website, education and outreach programme and the conservation and cataloguing of the archive gifted to The Glasgow School of Art in 2001."

"The project was created by The Lighthouse in partnership with The Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland ..." The funding bodies are listed in the Acknowledgements at the bottom of the Our Building page.

Despite a couple of its pages needing repairs, touring the project's website is a good beginning for anyone wanting to know more about the architects of our church building.

The Glasgow School Of Art Archives

If you are serious about wanting to learn more about our church building, its architecture and its architects then consulting the archives at GSA is something that you really should do. Online you will find Records of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia Architects, c1917-1987 and within that page you will find "St Bride's Roman Catholic Church, East Kilbride, 1952-1980". Clicking there will reveal more information.

GSA Archives are open for research by appointment. To arrange such an appointment contact The Archives and Collections Centre at The Glasgow School of Art.

The Architects and The Building

This tour is largely based on a presentation which parishioner Chris Carr gave to some students visiting from the University of Antwerp in April of 2015. It comes in the form of a slideshow. Please use the controls at the sides to navigate your way through it. Enjoy.

An Internet Tour

This tour is worth taking and can be as short or as long as you like. Among many other things, the World Wide Web is a resource which is full of information of interest to those eager to know more about St Bride's, its architecture and its architects.

Perhaps you might start your journey with Gillespie, Kidd & Coia on the wikipedia site. Reading there you browse various links and then you notice St Bride's Church, East Kilbride. You wonder who would put that page up and feel compelled to see if it is up to date. So you click and read and you are rewarded firstly with a link to Historic Scotland's Listed Building Report on our church and then with a link to some impressive pictures in Wikimedia Commons.

Then you might wonder what The Dictionary of Scottish Architects has to offer. So you go there and find articles on Jack Coia, Isi Metzstein, Andy MacMillan and St Bride's. Encouraged by your success you continue and find that listed among The Telegraph's obituaries are Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan. So you make one last effort and you find a gem - a profile of Jack Coia on the website of St Peter In Chains in Ardrossan.

So where to go tomorrow? If you arrive at any interesting destination, would you please send a postcard?

A Library Tour

This tour is something that will certainly yield rewards. The sources quoted on this subsite are all worth a read, but the cost to a reader of buying the books would be rather high. For example, in early August of 2015 "Gillespie Kidd and Coia: Architecture 1956-1987" was available on amazon.co.uk for a mere £215 plus £2.80 UK delivery!

So to the Library we must go! Luckily, nowadays many Libraries have online catalogues which are searchable. In South Lanarkshire ours can be found by clicking here.

The following is our current reading list:

Johnny Rodger (editor): "Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956-1987"

R W K C Rogerson: "Jack Coia: His Life And Works", pp76-79

Robert Proctor: "Building the Modern Church: Roman Catholic Church architecture in Britain 1955 to 1975"

Robert Proctor: "Churches for a Changing Liturgy: Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and the Second Vatican Council", in Architectural History, no. 48 (2005), pp291-322

More items will be added over time.