Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, GILMOREHILL CAMPUS BUILDINGS A18 TO A20 AND A24, 1-13 (INCLUSIVE NUMBERS) THE SQUARE INCLUDING CARRIAGE STEPS, RAILINGS, LAMP STANDARDS AND BOUNDARY WALLSLB32926

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
15/12/1970
Local Authority
Glasgow
Planning Authority
Glasgow
Burgh
Glasgow
NGR
NS 56837 66711
Coordinates
256837, 666711

Description

Sir George Gilbert Scott, 1868-71; Principal's Lodging porch added by Honeyman & Keppie, 1898. 3-storey, attic and basement terraces of townhouses for 12 professors and the Principal on 3 sides of a square (4 houses to N terrace; 7 houses to W terrace; 2 houses to S terrace) in Early Netherlandish style with 16th-century Scottish details. Rock-faced rubble with ashlar dressings, ground level band course. Stone-mullioned and transomed single, bipartite, and tripartite windows. Crowstepped gabled entrance bays (predominantly paired) and bargeboarded gabled dormers.

S SIDE (INCLUDING PRINCIPAL'S LODGING): 5-bay, outer bays raised and advanced; irregular fenestration; crowstepped gables in outer bays; 2 dormers; return elevations with central gables, arched entrances. Rear elevation: double gable, E advanced with full-height canted bay. W SIDE: 15 unequal bays, 3rd and 4th, 9th and 10th, and 15th bays advanced with crowstepped gables; arched entries with continuous dripmoulds over window lights arranged 3-1-3-3-1-3-3-1-3-3-1-3-3-1-3; 2-light attic windows shaped windows to 1st floor to gables. Plain return and rear elevations. N SIDE: 12 bays arranged 2-2-4-2-2, 3rd and 4th, 9th and 10th bays advanced and raised with paired crowstepped gables; detailing similar to W side.

2-pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roofs. Corniced gable and mutual stacks.

INTERIORS: (seen 1988) Plain, many altered. Carved timber staircase balusters, some timber or marble chimneypieces.

CARRIAGE STEPS: approx. 150mm thick sandstone slabs forming pavements and roofs to coal cellars; circular cast-iron coal-hole gratings. Sandstone slabs projecting over stone road gutters to form carriage steps.

RAILINGS AND LAMP STANDARDS: decorative cast-iron railings to street and steps over basement areas. Cast-iron lamp standards with barleysugar motif built into the railings.

BOUNDARY WALLS: buttressed and coped bull-faced sandstone boundary walls to rear (W) of Nos. 5-11.

Statement of Special Interest

See separate list descriptions for the nearby structures enclosed by the University Avenue boundary railings, gatepiers and Quincentenary Gates, including the Gilbert Scott Building, Bower Building, Thomson Building, John McIntyre Building, Pearce Lodge, Lord Kelvin's Sundial and Hunter Memorial.

The Square is an outstanding example of later 19th century Gothic Revival architecture by a leading UK architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott. The Square (originally 'Professors' Square'), three terraces of houses for 12 professors and the Principal, formed part of the scheme for relocation of the University from the High Street to Gilmorehill in the late 1860s and early 1870s.

Joseph Bignell of Scott's London office sent plans of the professors' houses at Gilmorehill to the Building Committee in Glasgow in early 1868. The estimated cost of £30,200 was of some concern. The design provided for seven terraced houses on the west side of the square and four houses on the north side. By spring 1868 the two houses on the southern side of the square, including the house for the Principal, were also on the drawing board. However, arguments over costs delayed completion of the houses until 1871. Prior to the completion of the Bute and Randolph Halls, West Range and Memorial Chapel, Professors' Square faced into the single large quadrangle formed by the main Gilbert Scott buildings.

The pioneering mathematician and physicist, William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs (1824-1907), lived at No. 11 for much of his long tenure as Professor of Natural History until 1899. The house was the first in the UK to be lit by electricity, using a carbon arc system installed in 1881.

Apart from the Principal's Lodging, the houses are now all in departmental or administrative use.

Formerly listed as '1-13 (inclusive) Professors' Square and Principal's Residence, University of Glasgow'.

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

References

Bibliography

Ordnance Survey, Large Scale Town Plan: Glasgow, 1894; Glasgow University Archives, Drawings Collection, Principal's House the University of Glasgow, (1975) pp. 15-18; Ref. GB 0248 GUA BUL/6/2/1-28, Professors' houses Ref. BUL/6/3/1-37; A Ross and J Hume, "A new and splendid edifice": the architecture of C McKean, D Walker, F Walker, Central Glasgow: Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland Illustrated Architectural Guide, (1989) pp. 179-185; E Williamson, A Riches, M Higgs, The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow, (1990) p. 342; J Macaulay, 'Sir George Gilbert Scott and the University of Glasgow' in Essays in Scots & English Architectural History (2009, eds. D Jones and S McKinstry), pp. 75-78; 'Professors' Square' search at www.scottisharchitects.org.uk (accessed 03-03-2010).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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