Water Tower, Ruchill Hospital, 520 Bilsland Drive, Glasgow

The Water Tower at Ruchill Hospital, designed by Alexander Beith McDonald in 1892, is a tall square structure made of brick with stone dressings and a battered pedestal. The upper section is elaborately decorated, with each face being identical.

The pedestal features a rusticated base with ashlar coping, interrupted in the center by a single blocked window. Above this window is an arched string course, and the pedestal is topped with a deep cornice that has a plain entablature, with brackets at the angles flanking a corner strapwork escutcheon.

The body of the tower is two stages, constructed of brick with stone pilasters that clasp the stone angles, resting on a corniced pedestal. The pilasters sit on a segmental, pedimented pedestal adorned with scrolls at the base. A string course at the top marks the entablature, which is highlighted by a pronounced curvilinear cornice. The lower stage contains a single stone-dressed window with a keystone, featuring a curved cornice hat and a wide cill supported by brackets. The upper stage has a bipartite window with mullions, beneath which is an escutcheon located below a broad bracketed cill, all topped by a segmental pediment with an inscribed convex pediment, flanked by stone pilaster strips that rise to the curvilinear cornice.

The head of the tower is an elaborate three-tier structure that rises from a broad curvilinear cornice, forming a balustraded balcony at the center of each face. A tall arched window is positioned in the center, flanked by lower arched lights with pilasters that divide and break through a shaped pediment covering the bay, terminating in blocked finials. The angles of the tower feature further block finials divided by pilasters with entablature and octagonal turrets above, which are bell-roofed and topped with onion finials and poles. The second tier is recessed and includes twin blocked arched windows bounded by a pilaster balustrade, above which is a deep cornice with dies and finials. The third stage consists of an octagonal tower with a pyramidal roof, a drum of columns, and a cupola topped with foliage, a pole, and a gall finial.