Cotton Spinning Mills, 121 Carstairs Street, Glasgow

The Cotton Spinning Mills at 121 Carstairs Street in Glasgow, designed by Joseph Stott of Oldham between 1884 and 1889, is a large former cotton spinning mill. It has four storeys and a raised basement, featuring a rectangular plan with 23 bays arranged in groups of 6-1-6-1-9. The building includes Italianate stair towers and a flat-roofed, single-storey, five-bay outshot to the south, along with a tall, single-storey, six-bay arcaded range that projects from the set-back face in the re-entrant angle at the north. The structure is built of fireproof brick with red ashlar dressings, showcasing a continuous cill course and a corbelled parapet. The ground floor has arcaded openings, while the upper levels feature semicircular and segmental-arched openings, many of which are blocked, adorned with keystones. Corner pilasters are topped by dies.

On the west elevation, a six-stage stair and water tower is located at the seventh bay, dividing the former carding and spinning rooms. This section has paired round-arched windows to the north and south, and a single light to the west, all with keystones. The corbelled cornice and curvilinear parapet add to its architectural detail. To the right, bay 14 has a smaller five-stage tower with similar window detailing. A later tower is present at bay 17. To the left, there is a single-storey, six-bay office with arcaded openings (some blocked) and a linking impost level string course.

The east elevation consists of 27 bays, similarly detailed to the west elevation but without towers. An engine house formerly projected from the lower three floors between the sixth and eighth bays from the north. Windows with concrete lintels were inserted later in place of the original rope-race. The north and south elevations each have 12 bays and are similarly detailed.

Inside, the mill features fireproof double brick arches, a characteristic of Joseph Stott, supported by steel joists alternately carried on cast-iron columns. The larger mule spinning area has a grid of 19 by 5 columns, while the carding rooms have a grid of 5 by 5 columns, divided by a rope-race, now with concrete floors. The basement blowing room is similar but has lower ceilings and thicker columns. The south outshot has steeply-angled north lights with fireproof brick-arched north slopes. The ground and first floors are predominantly subdivided. Some original 9-pane central hopper glazing remains, and the tower windows feature a horizontal glazing pattern. The building has six roof ridges.