It's hard to believe that some of Glasgow's best-loved buildings such as Central Station, the City Chambers and those designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh could have been flattened as part of a post-war transformation.
But this scenario could have been a reality if The Bruce Report's findings were taken on board in 1945 - when plans were drawn up to try and solve the crisis of Glasgow's dilapidated and decaying housing stock.
With Glasgow Corporation's chief engineer Robert Bruce at the helm, his uncompromising vision for a new Glasgow included a complete demolition and rebuild of the city centre as well as demolishing of the slum housing areas.
A 'clean slate' for a city that would be transformed into a futuristic metropolis awash with Eastern Bloc functionality, with the old grid pattern giving way to straight roads and green spaces alongside distinct 'zones' to serve separate functions.
North of the River Clyde, the old city centre would be flattened to build a new civic core surrounded by a general business area and residential area at its periphery, while south of the river the space would be taken up by a mixture of residential, general business and industrial areas.
To say the plans contained in Glasgow Corporation's First Planning Report Inner Core of the City were radical and comprehensive would be an understatement, with the city centre undergoing a complete and utter transformation.
With the likes of Central Station and Queen Street station gone, a new 'South Station' located south of the river would service incoming and outgoing trains heading south of the city, with another new 'North Station' becoming the transport hub for all northbound trains.
The riverside on the north would be populated with new Law Courts and a new City Chambers, with a green park area running between both across the river to the South Station and to the new Civic Centre and grand avenue at the very heart of the new city centre.
Such plans were mooted to transform post-War Glasgow into a 'healthy and beautiful city' according to Bruce, stripped of its previous (Victorian) period buildings to become a city based on a more formal, futuristic 1950s style architecture typical of Eastern Europe.
Thankfully, despite the Bruce Report's plans for a 'better' Glasgow being sold via a propaganda film entitled 'Glasgow Today and Tomorrow' (keeping with the 'Soviet' idea), the plans were ultimately rejected by the powers that be.
And with it, Glasgow city centre still to this day maintains its much-loved and celebrated Victorian charm and character thanks to the buildings that dodged the wrecking-ball that would have been green-lighted for use if the plans went ahead.
