Description

T Harold Hughes with D S R Waugh, 1936-9; completed 1950-54, Alexander Waugh & Kay (the latter designed additional timber upper storey, 1963 and 1966); Reading Room extension, 1982; refurbishment 1986-1993; refurbishment of main lecture theatre and most laboratories, 2004-06. 3-storey Art Deco university teaching and research building. Butterfly-plan with wings radiating from central body linked by curving vertically glazed stair towers. Machine-made narrow 'Roman' yellow brick, with reinforced concrete banding and construction.

2 main entrances to N into boldly glazed carved stairwells, with lettering above doors, flanking physical chemistry block, full-height vertical stairlights; several further entrances with plain doorpieces and die walls. Projecting glazed ground floor with windows set in brick piers in central physical chemistry block. Simple ground level mouldings, ground and 1st floor bands. EARLIER PART TO SE: tripartite window to SE elevation with relief memorial panel to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804). 2nd floor frieze to S wall with incised animal carving. LATER NW BLOCK TO UNIVERSITY PLACE: Joseph Black (1728-1799) memorial tablet on N wall, semi-engaged podium, corniced.

Metal-framed windows, mainly 3-light horizontal with concrete mullions. Flat and shallow-pitched roofs; prominent modern ducting pipes.

INTERIOR: (seen 2010). Original room plan largely extant. Much refurbished and modernized. Curved principal and subsidiary staircases with metal balustrades. Brass Art Deco door handles to corridor firedoors and Main Lecture Theatre doors. Some 1950s timber-panelled corridors and teaching rooms; also some surviving parquet flooring.

GATEWAY AND RAILINGS TO UNIVERSITY PLACE: Metal gates and railings with chevron design.

Statement of Interest

The Joseph Black Building forms an A-Group with the Graham Kerr Building (see separate listing). The Joseph Black Building is an outstanding example of a purpose built mid 20th century higher education building. The architectural design of the building is unusual, with an innovative plan form composed of wings linked by large glazed stair blocks. The use of materials is also unusual for its date, with a bold use of exposed brick and concrete. The large sweeping staircases, housed in round towers are characteristic of a design which includes some Art Deco features. The interior also contains some Art Deco details, a number of which are retained in situ, including timber panelling and some doors and door furniture.

Of interest as a rare example of a mid 20th-century higher educational building. Also of interest are the unusual use of brick and concrete and the large sweeping glazed staircases of the linking blocks. Some Art Deco and 1950s and 1960s features remain internally.

The building was designed in 1936-8 as the Institute of Chemistry, but only two of the projected three wings were constructed before the outbreak of the Second World War. The third wing (Inorganic Chemistry, facing University Place) was not completed until 1954, following the death of the original architect, Professor T Harold Hughes of the Glasgow School of Art, in 1949. The discovery of mine workings further delayed completion. At the time of construction it was the largest purpose-built Chemistry facility in the UK. Novel features included special foundations to eliminate vibrations from University Avenue, a large central chemical and equipment store, a 400-seat lecture theatre with projection facilities, and special isolated laboratories for dangerous experiments. The same architects were responsible for the contemporary McMillan Reading Room.

The building was re-named in 1997 after Joseph Black (1728-1799), University Lecturer in Chemistry from 1756 to 1766, who first identified carbon dioxide and carried out pioneering research on latent and specific heat.

Formerly listed as '1f Gilmorehill, University Of Glasgow, Chemistry Building (Including Inorganic, Physical, and Organic Chemistry) Former "Institute Of Chemistry"'.

List description updated as part of review of the University of Glasgow Hillhead Campus, 2011. The building number is derived from the University of Glasgow Main Campus Map (2007), as published on the University's website www.gla.ac.uk.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17567993

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)