Description

John Gordon, 1894. Distinctive 4-storey, 4-bay asymmetric Renaissance-detailed former bank building, situated on corner site, with double-height, pedimented former banking hall to ground floor corner. Red sandstone ashlar, channelled to ground and above former banking hall. Highly polished granite base course; cill courses, 2nd floor cornice forming 3rd floor cill course. Distinctive (Uneven/Asymmetrical) scooped parapet. Round-arched, key-stoned windows to former banking hall. Bays above banking hall with swag panels over windows to 2nd floor. Segmental-pediments to 3rd floor windows.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: asymmetrical entrance elevation to N (Bridgeton Cross) with 3 tall windows to tetrastyle Ionic-columned frontispiece (columns of polished granite) to pedimented banking hall at right; 2 windows to each floor above flanking coat of arms at 2nd floor and pilaster at 3rd floor rising into wallhead pediment with statue of lion rampant. Broad Roman Doric doorpiece to left with canted window and single window at each floor above. Landressy Street (W) elevation with 5 arcaded windows below further coat of arms, regular fenestration above.

Predominantly replacement tilt-and-turn windows; some timber. Channelled and corniced wallhead and angle stacks with decorative swag panels.

Statement of Interest

This is a prominent and distinctive former bank building situated on a corner site which adds significantly to the streetscape of the area. It has a substantial amount of fine and ornate detail and the design is an unusual one. Originally a Glasgow Savings Bank, the building was built from red Locharbriggs sandstone and was one of the last buildings to complete the rebuilding of Bridgeton Cross which had begun in the 1860s and 70s.

Bridgeton was a weaving village built on the Barrowfield lands in 1705. It was known as Barrowfield until 1775-6 when the Rutherglen Bridge was built along with a new road to the north boundary, now known as Bridgeton Cross. The 18th century origins and much of the 19th century development have disappeared, except for the area around Bridgeton Cross. This area was compulsorily purchased and cleared by the City Improvement Trust in the 1860s and 70s in order to demolish the existing housing and erect new housing.

John Gordon, circa 1835 -1912 was born in Paisley. He practised mainly in Glasgow and his works include a number of tenements and commercial buildings.

List description revised as part of the Glasgow East End listing review, 2010.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17813838

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability