Pharmacology And Physiology Building, Materia Medica, University Of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow

The Pharmacology and Physiology Building, originally known as the Materia Medica building, was constructed between 1903 and 1906, designed by James Miller, with later additions and alterations in 1949 by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia. It is a Scots Renaissance style university department building with a complex asymmetrical plan, extending over 2, 3, and 4 storeys. The exterior is constructed of squared, snecked Giffnock sandstone with polished ashlar dressings.

The ‘Materia Medica’ section includes an entrance block with a free-standing gateway leading to a lower level, featuring a balustraded parapet to the steps. The entrance itself is architraved with a strapwork pediment. Giant Ionic pilasters rise through two floors, topped by a balustraded parapet with a sculpted panel marking the year 1906. To the left is a coped gable. A plain two-bay by four-bay section advances, featuring a blank north wall framed by the Ionic pilasters. A ten-bay western extension incorporates large four-light ground floor windows, tripartite windows above, and a parapet with raised dies. The westernmost bays are plain and framed by Ionic pilasters, leading to a five-bay return with segmental gables.

The Physiology Building section includes a low-level entrance also with a strapwork pediment, featuring twelve-pane windows above a balustrade. A recessed section has a short open colonnade surmounted by a balustrade, and a single-storey advanced section to the west with windows framed by pilasters. Upper floors are set back with segmental crenellations, with a short, low, battlemented section and a later roof. The western elevation has a crow-stepped gable flanked by "pepper-pot" turrets, a geometric window on the lower western building, surmounted by an aediculed cupola and a polygonal turret. The rear elevation to the south has a curving section at the southwest corner. A giant aediculed window is prominent, along with an eight-bay, four-storey section featuring giant Ionic pilasters rising through the third and fourth floors, recessed windows, and a plain four-bay section. A two-bay advanced coped gable section includes an oriel at the fourth floor.

The building has sash and case windows, with stone mullions, transoms, and glazing bars. The roofs are covered with grey-blue Westmoreland slate.

The interior public spaces, observed in 2010, feature panelled timber dado to corridors and a stair hall, a granolithic floor, cast and wrought iron balusters to the stairs, brass handles on two-leaf panelled and architraved laboratory doors, and plain moulded plaster cornices where original ceilings are visible. Many ceilings have been lowered.

An entrance gateway to the north consists of a Doric-columned pedestrian opening with a strapwork pediment and urn finials.