Telephone Exchange, 29 College Street, Glasgow

The Telephone Exchange at 29 College Street in Glasgow, designed by C J W Simpson and built around 1922, is a large, classically inspired building featuring five storeys and a basement. The basement is made of polished grey granite, while the main structure is clad in polished ashlar stone, with banded detailing on the advanced bays.

The College Street elevation consists of seven bays, with the central bay serving as the main entrance flanked by narrower terminal bays that are shallower and taller, each containing single light windows. The wider bays feature tripartite windows. The central entrance is highlighted by a disc band margin and deep cavetto reveals, with a modern glazed and metal-framed door. Above the entrance is a panel displaying a coat of arms that leads into a semi-circular window on the first floor. The terminal bays have architraved doors topped with oculus windows and panelled double-leaf doors.

The ground and first floor windows are set within shallow recessed masonry panels, with the ground floor featuring column mullions. The first floor windows are semi-circular with small-pane glazing and top-hopper windows. Other windows throughout the building are either tripartite or single light, with sash and case 12-pane glazing, while the lower sashes of the ground floor windows have plate glass.

Flanking the central fourth floor window are decorative cartouches, and the building is topped with a deep cornice and a plain parapet that steps up over the central bay.

The Shuttle Street elevation mirrors the detailing of the College Street side, featuring a similar five-bay arrangement. All windows on this side are tripartite, with the end bays being blind, and it also has shallow advanced bands of masonry, a deep cornice, and a plain parapet.