Description

Alexander Cullen, 1898. 3-storey, 7-bay, rectangular-plan, asymmetrical, Jacobethan YMCA building. Large mullioned and transomed window to slightly advanced gabled bay on right. Red ashlar sandstone. Dividing band between 1st and 2nd storey, eaves course, stone mullions and transoms to windows.

SW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: plate glass shop front to ground floor outer left bay, door to right, double entrance door to centre bay, pentice hood; canted bay with coped parapet to 1st floor outer left bay, window to right, bipartite dormer breaking eaves above, semicircular pediment; bipartite window to 1st floor centre bay, bipartite dormer breaking eaves above, semicircular pediment. Slightly advanced, broad gabled bay to right, obelisk finials; 4 segmental-headed windows to ground; bracketed balcony ledge above; massive, double height tripartite window above, quadripartite mullioned and transomed window to centre, flanking eaves-height pilasters supporting plinths and narrow transomed windows. Shield to centre of gablehead, blocked window above.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: obscured by adjoining later addition.

NW (SIDE) ELEVATION: obscured by adjoining building.

SE (SIDE) ELEVATION: tripartite window to 1st floor.

Predominantly sash and case windows with 9-pane upper and plate glass lower sashes. Grey slates, lead flashing. Coped gable and ridge stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: central arcaded lobby supported on Tuscan columns with entasis. Semicircular fanlights over central doorways with original stained glass including YMCA logo. Original timber panelling and dentil cornice plasterwork through out principal rooms. Large double height gabled hall to 1st floor to SE.

Statement of Interest

Cullen's YMCA building shows him working in a different category of building from his more typical output of tenements and villas. Despite his dominance of North Lanarkshire architecture through the crucial urban growth period of 1880 to 1920, Cullen failed to attract key public commissions such as Motherwell Town Hall or the Public Library. The Dean of Guilds records show that despite the large volume of works by Cullen's his commissions came from a restricted group of local entrepreneurs, for villas and tenements, and from recurring contracts for the Dalziel School Board and Co-Op, which suggests his friends were not in the town council. Hence the YMCA building is almost unique in Cullen's output as a coherent public building that works from the elevation and internally as a coherent whole as opposed to multiple units boxed behind a single facade.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17826509

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)