Reading Room, University Of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow

The Reading Room at the University of Glasgow, designed by T Harold Hughes and D S R Waugh between 1936 and 1939, is a monumental Classical circular library with a rectangular entrance block to the south. It is aligned axially with the Gilbert Scott Building. The structure is made of reinforced concrete and is clad in yellow machine-made narrow 'Roman' yellow brick, featuring a continuous stepped plinth.

The entrance bay is tall and arched, with relief keyblocking and a simple doorpiece. It has two-leaf doors at the top of a stair, accompanied by graduated parapet walls and vertical glazing above. The glazed timber doors have swept brass handles. The building includes narrow, vertically linked windows with a band between them and dripmoulds, set in advanced panels. The rear entrance features simple die walls that oversail the basement area. A drum supports a shallow saucer dome that is set back from the parapet.

The windows are metal, and the roof is domed, with decorative rainwater goods.

At ground level, there is a parapet wall with wrought-iron railings and two brick pier lamp standards with metal lamps. The boundary wall along University Avenue is coped, and the gatepiers have bracketed pedimented caps, although the gates are replacements.