Publication Account

Date 1997

Event ID 1019407

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019407

The last natonal setpiece of interwar classic monumentalism - completed after the war, its steel frame having lain unfinished throughout the conflict. A nine-storey block built on deep piling, with striking sectional arrangement reflecting its dramatically precipitous site and high-level viaduct entrance. The top two floors contain public areas, including a lofty, austere reading room; below are seven stack floors. Architecturally, the public accomodation is expressed by a sheet, pilastered screen wall between broad, flat piers and lower flanking pavilions, echoing both the overseas classicism of the later '30s, and the earlier neo-classical heritage of this country (notably Archibald Simpson's New Market, Aberdeen, 1840-2). The facade was decorated with attenuated sculptures by Hew Lorimer. (Fig. 4.21).

Information from 'Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75', (1997).