Tower Building, 156-164 Buchanan Street, Glasgow

The Tower Building, located at 156-164 Buchanan Street in Glasgow, was designed by James Sellars of Campbell Douglas and Sellars around 1877. This three-storey and attic commercial building features a Thomsonesque Grecian style, constructed from cream sandstone ashlar. The ground floor has modern shop fronts, while the first and second floors are accented by a cill course and a main cornice with a blocking course. There is shallow channelled banding at the first floor.

On Buchanan Street, the building showcases three canted oriels on the first and second floors, each with transoms above the first-floor lights. Each bay is topped with a pedimented dormer featuring acroteria, which breaks the blocking course. The corner of the building is chamfered, with canted bays on the first and second floors adorned with carved friezes. The attic pavilion is bowed and has six lights, complemented by a rosette frieze and dentils, with zig-zag ornamentation above the cornice. Wallhead stacks flank the corner bay on each return, and there are carved panels on the first floor inscribed with "Tower Buildings."

On West George Street, the building has two corniced doorways in the outer bay, each with carved friezes and street numbers 48 and 50. There is a canted oriel at the center and a dormer above, which mirrors the detailing of the Buchanan Street elevation. To the right, there is a single bay with single windows on the first and second floors. The windows feature plate-glass with top hoppers and casements, some with two panes and three-pane hoppers. The roof is finished with a slated mansard.