Britannia Music Hall, 109-121 Trongate, Glasgow

The Britannia Music Hall, located at 109-121 Trongate in Glasgow, was designed by the architects Gildard & MacFarlane and dates back to 1857, with a rear staircase added in 1869 by Hugh Barclay. The building underwent further alterations for cinema use between 1904 and 1910 by Boswell & McIntyre. It is a four-storey, nine-bay structure built in a Classical style with ashlar stonework, and it is an exceptionally rare example of a former music hall that retains an important interior.

The principal elevation facing Trongate features a modern shop front at ground level, while the first floor is rusticated and adorned with vermiculated keystones. The round-arched openings are flanked by pilasters, which are banded on the first floor and swagged on the second. Moulded archivolts frame the openings. The third floor has windows arranged in groups of five, four, and six, with the central group slightly advanced and topped with a pediment. Each floor is decorated with a frieze and cornice, and there is a deep mutule cornice at the eaves.

On the New Wynd elevation, the first two bays are advanced and detailed similarly to the principal elevation, while the remaining bays are finished in ashlar. The building features timber sash and case windows with plate-glass glazing, and fixed-pane plate-glass windows on the third floor. The roofs are covered with slate.

Inside, the music hall retains many exceptional features, including an auditorium with a U-shaped timber gallery that has bench seating supported by slender cast iron columns. The proscenium is simply designed, leading to a high stage. The ceiling is coombed and features decorative plasterwork, with a flat main section that includes applied timber decoration in a latticework pattern at the center.