Merchant's House And Steeple, 135 Bridgegate, Glasgow

The building comprises the Merchant's House and Steeple, located at 135 Bridgegate, Glasgow. Completed in 1665, the tall tower of the Merchants Steeple is the sole surviving element of the Merchants Guild Hall and Hospital, constructed in 1659 and demolished in 1817. The tower originally adjoined the south wall of the two-storey Merchant's House, and was later incorporated into the Fish Market of 1873.

The tower is a tall, slender ashlar structure with a square section. It features seven storeys and a basement, topped with a spire. The top two storeys and the spire have diminishing stages. The exterior displays fine ashlar walling, although the lower three floors are partly obscured by later construction. A clock face is located on the fourth floor, and it’s accompanied by a pierced ashlar heart motif balustraded balcony on the fifth floor. The tower steps inwards at the fifth floor and subsequent levels, all featuring similar balconies. Paired louvred lancets are present on the fifth floor, while the sixth floor features a traceried window with corbelled detail. Above this rises the spire, characterized by two levels of lucarnes, a bulbous onion finial, and a weathervane.

Access to the tower is currently through an opening in the south wall, which was originally a window indicated by its incomplete dressings and narrow dimensions. The basement contains a wide, blocked arched opening, likely once providing access to the undercroft of the Merchant's House. A new wide newel staircase occupies the full floor space and rises through two floors. On the north wall at ground floor level is a handsome, elaborately roll-moulded door, and on the first floor is a large arched doorway with steps, both now blocked, which previously provided access to the Merchant's House. The first floor features a full row of corbels on the east wall; the corresponding row on the west wall is interrupted by the newel stair. The differing tooling and character of the stone stairs at this point suggest alterations to the floor plan at this level. A timber step ladder provides access to an intramural spiral stair situated in the northeast angle, rising from the third to the fourth floor. Additional timber stairs rise around an open well to the top of the tower. The original arrangement likely consisted of a timber stair, with a series of corbels positioned at the angles potentially supporting either a stair or internal scaffolding. Windows are present on all faces above the first floor, with large clock faces on the fourth floor. Aside from the roll-moulded door, most openings have plain internal dressings, with one piece of chamfering and a worked corbel found at basement level. There is a lack of surviving internal fittings, and a large panelled door, possibly from the 18th century, has been fitted to close off the stair at the first floor.