Lion Chambers View of window on West front. Digital image of B 74414.

Description Lion Chambers View of window on West front. Digital image of B 74414.

Date 13/8/1992

Catalogue Number SC 710136

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 74414

Scope and Content Arched window on west façade of Lion Chambers, Nos 170-2 Hope Street, Glasgow The Lion Chambers, an eight-storeyed block of offices and business premises, were built 1904-7 on a small plot only 10.09m x 14m. The walls of this building are only 100mm thick and are constructed from reinforced concrete on a metal framework. The building, only the second in Glasgow to be built in this innovative way, was designed by architects James Salmon (1873-1924) and John Gaff Gillespie (1870-1926). This shows an arched semicircular window to the front of the building. Above the arch is a moulded decorative keystone which joins the border of the window to the pediment and leads the eye up to the bay window in the gable. The large window reflects the fact that the upper floors of this building were designed as artists' studios, with the lower floors in use as law offices. The system used for building the Lion Chambers was that of the French pioneer of reinforced concrete architecture, François Hennebique (1843-1924). He developed a method of casting concrete to include metal strengthening bars, making it suitable for the construction of tall buildings. This building has been selected as one of Scotland's key 20th-century Modern architectural monuments. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/710136

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap