St Andrew's West, Glasgow

The church was built between 1849 and 1852 as the parish church of an independent congregation which had split from the George Street Congregational Church in 1849. It was built in an English Gothic revival style on the designs of John Thomas Emmett, costing a total of £10,000. It is built of Kenmure sandstone. By 1874 the congregation had declined and the building was sold to James Baird, an industrialist, who donated the building to the Church of Scotland.

The church was designated a Category B listed building in 1970.[2]

After the building became a Church of Scotland parish it was taken over by the Blythswood congregation and became known as Blythswood Parish Church. In 1920, the parish united with St Matthew's parish and became St Matthew's Blythswood Parish Church. St Matthew's parish was established in 1835. In 1960 St Matthew's Blythswood united with St Stephen's Buccleuch and the name was changed to St Stephen's Buccleuch Parish Church. St Stephen's parish was originally established in 1835. In 1966 the church was sold by the parish to the Renfield Street Trust to be used by Renfield Parish Church as its new church after the original Renfield street church closed in 1964 and later demolished. Renfield street parish was established in 1848 and united with the Church of Scotland in 1929. In 1967, Cowcaddens parish joined the union and the church became known as St Stephen's. In 1969, the church was refurbished and rededicated. The adjoining church centre was also built on the site of tenement flats and a chapel dedicated to St Matthew was constructed. In 1974, Renfield parish and St Stephen's parish, which both used the church, united into one parish to form Renfield St Stephen's.[3] In 2019, Renfield St Stephen's and Anderston Kelvingrove united to form a new parish called St Andrew's West. The current congregation is made up of a union of 15 original congregations.[4]

On 26 December 1998, after a severe hurricane, at a time when the spire was being restored, the same spire collapsed and fell on the church building which caused a large gash in the middle of the church and severe structural damage. The church was once more opened and rededicated on 28 September 2001 by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland John Miller. Repairs const a total of £3,000,000[5] [6]

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