Glass Chambers

Glass Chambers is an office building dating from 1882, designed by Charles Hansom. It is constructed of random limestone ashlar, with an ashlar stack and a slate hipped mansard roof. The building has a single-depth plan and is built in a Jacobethan style incorporating Renaissance detailing. It is four storeys high with an attic, and originally had a four-window frontage, though the sharp corner site features matching front and rear elevations and a canted one-window corner. The ground floor features shop fronts with granite plinths, plain piers, and plate glass. The upper floors are articulated by pilasters which break forward over cornices, extending to a fluted frieze and dentil cornice, and panelled dies to a balustrade. The left-hand doorway is semicircular-arched, featuring a Gibbs architrave, incised voussoirs, a key with a carved face, a four-panel door, and the inscription "GLASS CHAMBERS". Pilasters on the front of the building have first-floor panels with foliate decoration, round panels with busts to the second floor, and niches containing depictions of historical Bristol figures in the canted section. The windows were originally ovolo-moulded in chamfered surrounds, with narrow transom windows above the doorway and cross windows elsewhere; casements and stained glass are present over the transom on the first and third floors. The rear elevation is similar, divided by an external stack with quoins and cornice, and features lower stair lights. Gabled dormers are visible in the roof. The interior has a lobby that opens onto a stone, cantilevered dogleg staircase with paired cast-iron balusters and fluted newel posts. The building occupies an important corner location with views overlooking the city centre.