County Buildings And Courthouse, 40-5O Wilson Street, Glasgow

The County Buildings and Courthouse, located at 40-50 Wilson Street in Glasgow, were designed by Clarke and Bell from Edinburgh and constructed between 1842 and 1844, with a northern section added in 1871 and a refronting completed in 1892. These three-storey public buildings are designed in a Neo-Greek style and are built of ashlar stone, featuring a channelled ground floor. The first-floor windows are primarily adorned with consoled cornices, and some of the original doors have been altered to become windows.

The southern section, built from 1842 to 1844, is the original County Building. It features an Ionic hexastyle temple front facing Wilson Street, raised on a stylobate (ground floor) and flanked by narrow bays and outer pilastered bays. The ashlar stone is channelled to the ground, and the frieze is sculptured by Walter Buchan. The windows are architraved, and the entrances in the outer bays have consoled cornices, topped with a crowning entablature and blocking course. There is also a similar return bay, with additional symmetrically arranged bays on either side of the elevation towards Brunswick Street. Inside, there is a columnar entrance hall leading from Wilson Street.

The central section, also built from 1842 to 1844, was originally the Merchants' House. Its main front faces Hutcheson Street and features a Corinthian colonnade that rises through the first and second floors, flanked by pilastered bays. The sculpture here is again by Buchan.

The northern section, added in 1871 and extended in 1892, reflects the design of the Wilson Street facade and includes a Corinthian hexastyle portico facing Ingram Street, with a central door and four windows set in a plinth, partly reusing older materials. The northern part of Hutcheson Street has closely spaced windows, while there are eight symmetrical bays to the north of Brunswick Street. The sash and case windows feature plate-glass glazing patterns, with some etched glazing visible on Brunswick Street. Decorative wrought-iron railings line Brunswick Street, while decorative cast-iron railings are present on Wilson Street.