1819.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



2.-7 



THE GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH NATIONAL BANK, 

 GLASGOW. 

 *■* John Gibson, Esq., Architect. 



(With an Engraving, Plate XVII.) 



A considerable change in architectural taste seems to have taken 

 place within the last few years, in Scotland. The modern public 

 buildings there have, till lately, been more remarkable for frigid 

 plainness, than for either general design or any study of detail. 

 That false sort of simplicity which consists in little more than the 

 absence of all other ornament than that arising from columns and 

 entablatures, has, for the greater part been their chief characteris- 

 tic; owing to which want of artistic physiognomy, it is not much 

 to be wondered at that they have never been represented architec- 

 turally by published elevations and sections of them. Among 

 recent structures, on the contrary, both at Edinburgh and Glas- 

 gow, a much more generous as well as ornate style has been ado])ted, 

 greater attention being now paid to the highly-important point of 

 carrying out design consistently, — extending it to every visible 

 side of a building, instead of confining it to a mere front, or 

 single elevation. Of that regard to completeness which has 

 hitherto been generally more or less, and in some instances so 

 grossly neglected, the building of whose east or street front we 

 this month give an elevation is a distinguished example ; for 

 besides being quite insulated, and iinished-up on each side, it 

 possesses the exceedingly rare advantage of being placed in a 

 locale expressly arranged and designed for it by its architect, 

 Mr. John Gibson, of London (the same who erected the Imperial 

 Insurance Office, in Threadneedle-street, an elevation of which 

 (J: was given in the Journal for July 1848, p. 193), whose plans for 

 the various buildings were selected from those sent in to the com- 

 petition, which took place in 1844. 



In order to convey some idea of the general disposition of the 

 entire mass of buildings, we may stiite that they constitute three 

 sides of a quadrangular area on the east of Queen-street, measur- 

 ing ll.'Sfeet (towards the street) by 130 feet. The north and 

 south sides of this area present two uniform handsome elevations, 

 M'hose ground-floor is occupied by a series of shops, in whicli 

 regard has been had to architectural appearance, — while the west 

 side is occupied chiefly by the Stock Exchange, and a thoroughfare 

 passage at each end of it, leading to other buildings at its rear. 

 \Vithin the area thus formed the Bank is placed, in such manner 

 however as to be on a line with the street, its front ranging with 

 the ends (30 feet wide) of the shop buildings — so as to leave a 

 clear space of about 50 feet in width betveeen the Bank and the 

 Exchange, the former building being 80 feet in depth by 62 feet in 

 width. 



Having thus shaped out the general plan of the collective build- 

 ings, so that any one may sketch it for himself upon paper, we 

 jjroceed to give a more particular notice of the Bank itself. As 

 the exterior, at least the principal front, requires no description 

 from us, it l*ing so infinitely better described by our Engraving 

 than it could be by words, we need only say that the whole of tlie 

 edifice is faced with Baring stone of a light grey tint; that the 

 two figures on the summit of the front, representing Commeice 

 and Plenty, are six feet high, and were executed by Mr. Thomas, 

 of London; and the entrance door is of a bronze-green colour, 

 and ornamented with bronze paterae and studs. The north and 

 south elevations of the front portion of the building are similar to 

 the street one, except that there are only tljree windows on a floor, 

 and the i)ilastei-s between tliem are coupled; but the remainder of 

 those sides, where there is a slight break in the plan, tlie ground- 

 floor only, witli its entablature, is continued, — tliat division form- 

 ing the exterior of the Banking Office or Telling Room, above 

 wbicli there are no other apartments. The west or back front 

 (59 feet), facing the Stock Exchange, is of course similar, although 

 witli a difference, there being a break in the centre (advancing 

 forward about 8 feet), formed by the loggia on that side witliin, 

 and ornamented by two pair of coupled engaged Ionic columns, 

 between wliich is another entrance door leading immediately into 

 tlie Banking Room. On each side of that projecting division of 

 the elevation is a single window, of tfce same design as all the 

 other ground-floor ones. 



The public apartment of the Bank, or Telling Room, being in the 

 rear of the building, while the front portion of it is appropriated 

 to the committee-room, waiting-room, manager's-rocini, &c., — ^is 

 approached tlirough a handsome corridor, leading in a direct line 

 to it from the street entrance. Even this corridor announces the 

 superior style of embellishment adopted for the interior : its walls 

 are divided into compartments by arches and pilasters, to which 



No. 144.— Vol. XII.— September, 1849. 



well-contrasted colours give additional richness of effect; and its 

 architectural character is considerably enhanced by the beauty of 

 vaulting or ceiling, in which are three compartments, — one of them 

 forming a skylight, filled in with ornamental stained glass. Yet 

 this is only a note of worthy preparation to something worthier 

 still; for however high expectation may have been raised by the 

 approach to the Telling Room, it is more than fulfilled by the 

 coup d'ceil which there presents itself. Agreeable as it otherwise is, 

 here our task becomes an exceedingly difficult one, it being any- 

 thing but easy to give anything like a perfectly lucid and satisfac- 

 tory description. To say that, on first entering, the eye is bewil- 

 dered by the splendour and variety of colouring and enrichment, 

 would be wrong, and depriving the general design of one especial 

 claim to admiration; for although decoration has been studied for 

 every part of this interior — for floor as well as ceiling; for walls as 

 well as columns or entablatures; for impost and archivolt mould- 

 ings and spandrel panels, as well as plain surfaces; and not least of 

 all, for the glazing of the windows — neither the diversity of orna- 

 ment nor that of colours produces any confusion, but, on the con- 

 trary, an ensemble so harmoniously combined, that the eye compre- 

 hends almost at a glance what it afterwards pauses upon with 

 increasing satisfaction and delight. 



This beautiful, and in some respects unique, apartment is by no 

 means remarkable for its size, it being not more than 55 feet in 

 length (from north to south) by 31 feet in width; which last, how- 

 ever, is increased in the centre of the plan to 50 feet, by two 

 distyle-in-antis recesses or loggias on its sides, within each of which 

 is an entrance — that on the east side being the one from the cor- 

 ridor. The vertical dimensions or heights are : 20 feet to the top 

 of the cornice of the order ; about 24 feet to the plafond, or flat 

 ceiling; and about 30 feet to the summit of the dome. All the 

 walls are beautifully executed to resemble Sienna, with a border of 

 black marble ne.xt the floor, corresponding with the plinths or sub- 

 bases of the columns and pilasters. Of both which last, the bases 

 and capitals are of white marble, and their shafts coloured to re- 

 semble porphyry. The entablature has more than its usual com- 

 plement of enrichment, its frieze being ornamented with an ara- 

 besque pattern in colour (blue), composed of the rose, shamrock, 

 and thistle. The cove and plafond are also tastefully decorated 

 with panelling and devices picked out in colours. The order being 

 continued in pilasters round the room, the rich porphyry colour of 

 their shafts, and those of the columns, is carried out uniformly; 

 and the walls are divided into compartments, each of which is filled 

 in with an arcade, — and the imposts, archivolts, and key-stones of 

 these arches contribute not a little to the general embellishment, 

 being all highly wrought, and heightened by colours. There are, 

 besides, spandrel panels over them, filled-in with ornament similar 

 in colour to the frieze, whereby that colour becomes pleasingly 

 distributed. Of these arcades there are ten in all — viz. three at 

 each end of the room, and one on each side of the two loggias; all 

 of which, excepting the two on the east side of the room, have 

 arched windows set witliin them, upon a ground of dove-coloured 

 marble. The windows themselves, again, contribute not a little 

 to the ensemble of decoration, owing to the ornamental pattern of 

 the glazing, which accords with that introduced in the dome, — of 

 which last-mentioned feature we have now to speak more particu- 

 larly. This dome, then, or skyliglit — and it shows what a truly 

 tasteful architectural feature what is merely a skylight in its pur- 

 pose may be made — is 23 feet in diameter at its opening in the 

 ceiling, and of flattish or segmental curvature, its vertical depth 

 being barely 6 feet. It is closed above or at its vertex, beneath 

 which the light is admitted through what may be called a cove, 

 divided into eight compartments by as many ornamental ribs. The 

 glazing of those open compartments consists of octagons and small 

 intersticial squares, the former of which are filled-in with figured 

 glass, wherein pale red and pale blue occur alternately, and pro- 

 duce something of the appearance of transparent coffering. We 

 have accordingly here an example which convinces us how ad- 

 mirably stained glass — which has hitherto been considered so 

 exclusively a property of the Gothic style, as to be totally unfit 

 for any other — may, by a difterent treatment of it, be made not 

 only to accord with but to enhance quite different modes of 

 design, and become an equally novel and tasteful resource in 

 interior decoration. The floor beneath the dome, where it is 

 confined to the space between the counters, extending across the 

 room from one loggia to tlie other, is a worthy accompaniment to 

 all the rest of the apartment, it being paved with variously- 

 coloured marbles, beautifully disposed, and forming in the centre 

 a large radiating star. It hardly requires to be observed that tlie 

 ornamental pavement is continued within the loggias. All tlie 

 fittings-up — the counters (of Spanish mahogany, enriched with 



34 



