Central College Of Commerce, 300 Cathedral Street, Glasgow

The Central College of Commerce, located at 300 Cathedral Street in Glasgow, was designed by Peter Williams of Wylie, Shanks & Underwood and constructed between 1959 and 1963. This seven-storey college building features a rectangular plan and a flat roof, incorporating elements of Le Corbusier's style, such as a rooftop gymnasium and plant, along with curtain wall glazing that wraps around all floors above ground. The base is made of bull-faced rubble, with brick on the sides and rear, and it jetties onto columnar concrete pilotis above the first floor on the east and west sides. The exterior is adorned with bands of Travertine marble slabs and vitrolite, and the gymnasium has a distinctive wishbone shape with portholes.

On the south elevation, the entrance is located to the left of the centre, featuring a taller set-back ground floor with a right-angled slab-roofed canopy clad in marble supported by concrete columns. To the right, there are ribbon windows that alternate between tall and short on the rubble base, while full-height windows are found to the left. Each level above is divided by regular light and dark bands, except for the first floor, which has a deeper light marble band that is only irregularly stepped to the right and outer left, with an additional deep marble band at the roof.

The west elevation, facing North Frederick Street, consists of nine bays above ground and mirrors the horizontal banding of the south elevation, but includes a balcony on the first floor. The north and east elevations are largely similar to the south and west, with minor differences at ground level.

The rooftop structures include a rectangular-plan, wishbone-shaped gymnasium on the east side, featuring rows of eight portholes offset along the east-west axis. Below this, there is a five-part window beneath a taller shaped four-part window on the east side. Additionally, there are sculptural concrete structures on the west side that house lift motor rooms, air ducts, caretaker's accommodation, and water storage tanks.

The building's grid glazing pattern consists of two square panes (one light and one dark frame) below a horizontal upper pane in metal windows. Inside, there is an original marble and terrazzo lined staircase with an intact timber and steel balustrade, along with some original steel lockers in the corridors. The seventh floor features timber retail display windows in the corridors, while the second and third floors have later protected lobbies around the lift, with many later fire doors. The gymnasium retains its timber-lined floor and walls, ribbed trusses, and porthole windows.