Aside from the smaller Haghill neighbourhood further east, Dennistoun's built environment does not adjoin any others directly, with the M8 motorway dividing it from Royston to the north, while the buildings of Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Wellpark Brewery plus the Glasgow Necropolis cemetery lie to the west (separating it from adjacent Townhead), and railway lines form the southern boundary with the Calton/Gallowgate neighbourhoods, and Camlachie (a historic district which is now largely a retail park) on the opposite side.

[1][2] In 1836 a Reformatory Institution and House of Refuge (For Boys), funded by public subscription, was built on the westmost part of the Whitehill estate, with its entrance gatehouse and driveway off Duke Street.

[4] In 1854 Dennistoun engaged the Glasgow architect James Salmon, who designed proposed development, surveyed the site, and laid it out in streets, terraces, and drives.

[12] The East End Exhibition Buildings were converted into a 7,000 seat theatre for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show which ran from 16 November 1891 to 27th February 1892.

After the Second World War, the area's Victorian tenements were refurbished and extended rather than replaced with high-rise modernist blocks as in other working-class districts such as neighbouring Calton and Parkhead, and this, coupled with proximity to the city centre and Caledonian and Strathclyde universities, has contributed to its gentrification in recent years; many of its residents are now students and young professionals.

The Park takes its name from Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the wife of the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, who performed the official opening in 1870.

Mr Alexander Dennistoun, the proprietor of the adjoining estate of Golfhill, gave five acres (two hectares) of land to the City Improvement Trustees, situated near the south-west corner adjacent to Alexandra Parade, which now forms the principal pedestrian entrance.

Although predominantly consisting of three- and four-storey tenements, the Victorian villas and terraces to the west (towards the city centre) illustrate part of Alexander Dennistoun's original plan for the whole area.

Dennistoun is made up of a number of smaller neighbourhoods including Milnbank to the north, 'The Drives' in the centre of the area and Bellgrove south of Duke Street - since 2007, the latter has fallen under a different multi-member council ward (Calton) from the rest of the district, and this situation remained even when the Dennistoun ward was created a decade later, with its boundaries instead including the Royston and Germiston neighbourhoods on the other side of the M8.

The district is served by Alexandra Parade, Duke Street and Bellgrove railway stations (all on the North Clyde Line) as well as numerous bus routes, offering commuter services to the city centre and on toward the western suburbs.