Description

David Barclay, architect, dated 1903. Gargantuan 4-storey and

attic over raised basement Italianate college occupying block

site on George Street, John Street and Montrose Street.

Strictly symmetrical 19-bay facade to George Street with

17-bay elevation to Montrose Street, 7-bay elevation to John

Street. Polished red ashlar, end and centre bays with polished

pink granite to basement and rusticated ground floor masonry. Stonecleaned to George Street and for 2 advanced bays to each

flank.

GEORGE STREET: bays 2-6-3-6-2, with end and central bays

advanced and taller. Central 3-bay entrance with large round

arched openings, now partly glazed, steps to entrance hall.

Basement windows basket arched to end and centre, otherwise

square headed with good decorative cast-iron grille, ground

floor windows with cavetto lintels, round arched to end bays.

To 1st, windows arched with bipartite lower part; round

arched aedicular windows to end bays. 2nd and 3rd floor

windows treated as unified pilastered arcaded element. 2nd

floor with bipartites divide by Doric column mullion, to

3rd with semi-circular window. End and centre bays 4th floor

with round arched paired windows. All single light metal

framed pivot windows.

Projecting engaged piers divided bays at ground and 1st floors,

banded masonry over ground, cornices over ground and 1st

floors. Main entablature deep plain parapet; centre bays with

mutuled pediment, end bays with miniature tower/cupola detail

to angles.

Flank to John Street 9-bay, to Montrose Street 17-bay both

with 2 southernmost bays advanced. John Street elevation with

pend entrance to 68 John Street and includes later 4-bay

extension in red sandstone with small pane glazing. Montrose

Street has modern box dormers. Otherwise both detailed as

main facade.

INTERIOR: imposing interior with symmetrical layout and

rather heavy detailing in red sandstone Tuscan columns and

large paired staircases in end bays, Perron stair to centre

bay. Lowered ceilings hide heavy mutule cornicing and coffering.

Some good panelled doors and some coloured leaded glasswork

survive. Hall with marble floor and marble war memorial,

otherwise corridor floors terazzo tiled, and staircase walls

faience tiled.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793006

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

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)