Gateways, Kelvinside Academy, 20 Bellshaugh Road, Glasgow

Kelvinside Academy, located at 20 Bellshaugh Road in Glasgow, was designed by architect James Sellars and built between 1877 and 1879. This Grecian-style school features Thomsonesque details and consists of two storeys, attics, and a basement, with taller end pavilions and a three-storey, raised temple-fronted centerpiece. The building is constructed of polished ashlar, with a stugged basecourse, and has been stone cleaned. It has 23 bays arranged in a 3-7-3-7-3 pattern.

The entrance features steps leading up to a centrally placed doorpiece with a cornice and architrave, adorned with a carved frieze, flanked by two windows. Above, the first floor boasts a two-storey Ionic tetrastyle portico with a pediment and acroterion, while the masonry is banded. The second floor has three pilastered windows. The flanking ranges have plain ground floor windows, and the first floor windows are recessed and pilastered, creating a pilastrade effect. There are various glazing patterns, and moulded cill strings are present at both the ground and first floors. A cornice runs over the ground and first floors, and a deep, plain parapet steps up at the angles of the end pavilions. The slate roofs feature tall axial corniced stacks in pairs, linked by pierced or solid balustrading. The flanks are detailed similarly to the main facade, with a five-bay west side and an eight-bay east side, the latter having a projecting gabled and barge-boarded porch with an architraved corniced doorpiece facing south. The rear elevation is made of stugged coursed ashlar and includes many modern additions.

Inside, the academy features a wood-panelled dado and some dentil moulded cornices in the hall. The vestibule has a pillar screen, and there is a staircase to the west. Two bronze war memorial plaques with Greek key decoration are displayed, along with some line-etched flaxmanesque internal windows. To the west, there is a single-storey and basement pedimented building that originally served as a gymnasium, complete with a porch to the left and an apse at the north. The rear elevations are also made of stugged ashlar. Additionally, good cast-iron lamp brackets flank the main doorpiece, and there is a low ashlar boundary wall supporting decorative cast-iron railings. The property features two pedimented ashlar gateways with elaborate cast-iron gates.