Northern Assurance Building, 84-94 St Vincent Street, Glasgow

The Northern Assurance Building, located at 84-94 St Vincent Street in Glasgow, was designed by John A Campbell and constructed between 1908 and 1909. This classical and early modern commercial building features seven and eight stories and is built from Portland stone.

The building has a seven-bay facade, with the first, fourth, and seventh bays canted. The central bay includes a columned entrance to No 90, topped with a balustraded parapet. The first floor is elaborately architraved, while a sculpture group is located at the window head of the second floor. The sixth floor features a giant open segmentally pedimented stylised aedicule that rises to the seventh floor, enclosing two recessed windows, with the sixth window adorned with carved heads, and a block panel above in a stepped parapet section.

The outer bays are simply detailed with panelled aprons and sculpted drops at the seventh floor, and they feature cornices. The linking bays have dropped lintel blocks for the deeply recessed first-floor windows and apron panels. The second-floor windows have console cornices with elaborate architraves, and there is a deep consoled cornice with a balustraded parapet.

Wrought-iron gates are present at Nos 86 and 90. The rear elevation features canted bays made of white glazed brick at ground level, and the building includes Henry Hope glazed steel casements.