Courier Building, D.C Thomson & Co, 22 Meadowside, Dundee

The Courier Building, located at 22 Meadowside, Dundee, is a five-storey office block with a later ten-storey tower, constructed in 1902 and 1960 respectively by Niven and Wigglesworth (London) and T Lindsay Gray. It is a substantial palazzo-style building on a large, angled plot.

The original building is constructed of red sandstone ashlar, with channelled detailing to the ground floor and around rounded corners. It features a base course and a band course to the second floor that supports a pilastrade rising through the upper floors to a corniced wallhead. The arcaded ground floor has tripartite, keystoned round-headed arches with multi-pane timber glazing. Upper floors have tripartite windows, initially with 12-pane sash and case glazing to the centre, flanked by 8-pane windows with corbelled cills to the first floor. Windows to the second, third, and fourth floors are recessed within panels between the pilastrade, with pilastered mullions and corniced lintels to the third floor, with the centre bay canted at the second and third floors and a blind eaves gallery. Corniced stacks rise through the eaves. A semi-permanent attic storey sits on the ridge.

The tower, built later, replicates the arcaded ground floor and tripartite glazing of the original building on the first floor. Above, it has tripartite windows with two panes in recessed panels, rising from the second to the eighth floor. The main cornice runs to the cill level of the ninth floor. A recessed penthouse is situated above. The Meadowside elevation has eight original bays, symmetrical in design, with an entrance at the fourth arch from the left, featuring two-leaf glazed doors, sidelights, and a fanlight. The doorpiece has rusticated angles, a globe keystone flanked by swags and winged figures resembling atlantes, which support a shallow balcony with a cast-iron parapet at the first floor. There are three windows to the left of the entrance and four to the right, with eight windows on each upper floor, and four stacks. A symmetrical three-bay tower is located to the left. A recessed penthouse canted to the front has a tripartite window flanked by bipartites. Returns from the fifth and sixth floors have tripartite windows.

The Courier Place elevation includes two-leaf doors with sidelights and fanlights, a window to the left and right, and three windows to each upper floor, with two stacks. The Euclid Crescent elevation has five original bays to the left and a segmental stairwell bay to the right, with a door at ground floor and staggered bipartite windows above. The left bays have four windows on each floor. To the right is a slightly convex three-storey block with four round-headed ground-floor windows matching the main building, and one single and five bipartite 12-pane sash and case windows on the first and second floors, with a continuous rooflight to the attic. Various roof additions are present at the rear, and the rear elevation of the tower displays two bays with bipartite windows to each floor, along with a glazed fire escape.

The interior of the building has not been inspected.