Lion Chambers, Glasgow
By renowned architect James Salmon Jr. (Salmon, Son and Gillespie), 1904-7. Glasgow Style Art Nouveau. Tall, 8-storey commercial building with shop at ground floor. Reinforced concrete construction. Casement windows with small-pane glazing. 1st floor cill band. Sculpted panel between 1st and 2nd floors: THE LION CHAMBERS. Square canted section in southmost bay rising from 1st to 4th floor corbelled out on sculpted judges heads at 4th floor; wide semi-circular keyblocked window at 6th floor surmounted by pedimented gable. Canted corner bay slightly advanced over 4th floor and surmounted by octagonal cupola. Southern return: simple fenestration and pedimented gable. Return to Bath Lane: canted return bays with metal casements.
Built for lawyer/writer William George Black. This explains the sculpted judges heads. Black was well-established within the Glasgow Art Club and provided artists studios into his plans for the upper floors of the building. The building is the second reinforced concrete structure in Glasgow and amongst the first few in Britain.
The building was built using the Hennebique system by French Engineer, François Hennebique. This system involves reinforced concrete instead of steel frames, making the building fireproof. The Hennebique system was designed to strengthen concrete to make it withstand forces which damage concrete the most. This allows the walls to be extremely thin with a thickness of only 100mm. However, the Hennebique system does have negative attributes, including the complexity of the framework and moulding in the manufacturing process. The concrete can weather away easily, considerably in weather in the United Kingdom, which was one of the main reasons the Lion Chambers has had to be abandoned.
Sadly this important building is on the Buildings at Risk register listed “critical” with the owners, having been served with a Dangerous Building Notice, wanting to demolish it. Only it’s A-listed status saving it. Remedial repairs were estimated at £1-1.5 million back in 1991 when occupants of the building were evacuated following fears of collapse. Money has been raised to cover parts of the building with mesh after lumps were spotted falling off it.
Lion Chambers, Glasgow
By renowned architect James Salmon Jr. (Salmon, Son and Gillespie), 1904-7. Glasgow Style Art Nouveau. Tall, 8-storey commercial building with shop at ground floor. Reinforced concrete construction. Casement windows with small-pane glazing. 1st floor cill band. Sculpted panel between 1st and 2nd floors: THE LION CHAMBERS. Square canted section in southmost bay rising from 1st to 4th floor corbelled out on sculpted judges heads at 4th floor; wide semi-circular keyblocked window at 6th floor surmounted by pedimented gable. Canted corner bay slightly advanced over 4th floor and surmounted by octagonal cupola. Southern return: simple fenestration and pedimented gable. Return to Bath Lane: canted return bays with metal casements.
Built for lawyer/writer William George Black. This explains the sculpted judges heads. Black was well-established within the Glasgow Art Club and provided artists studios into his plans for the upper floors of the building. The building is the second reinforced concrete structure in Glasgow and amongst the first few in Britain.
The building was built using the Hennebique system by French Engineer, François Hennebique. This system involves reinforced concrete instead of steel frames, making the building fireproof. The Hennebique system was designed to strengthen concrete to make it withstand forces which damage concrete the most. This allows the walls to be extremely thin with a thickness of only 100mm. However, the Hennebique system does have negative attributes, including the complexity of the framework and moulding in the manufacturing process. The concrete can weather away easily, considerably in weather in the United Kingdom, which was one of the main reasons the Lion Chambers has had to be abandoned.
Sadly this important building is on the Buildings at Risk register listed “critical” with the owners, having been served with a Dangerous Building Notice, wanting to demolish it. Only it’s A-listed status saving it. Remedial repairs were estimated at £1-1.5 million back in 1991 when occupants of the building were evacuated following fears of collapse. Money has been raised to cover parts of the building with mesh after lumps were spotted falling off it.