Barony North Church, 14-20 Cathedral Square, Glasgow

The Barony North Church, located at 14-20 Cathedral Square in Glasgow, was designed by John Honeyman and built in 1878. It is an example of Italianate Baroque church architecture, featuring a tower to the northwest and an apsidal narthex to the north gable.

The main church is rectangular, with a galleried interior and extensive basements. The west front is six bays wide, with the outer bays projecting and rising to the tower. The building is constructed of polished cream sandstone, with the basement rough and rusticated, and the upper levels channelled. The southwest entrance is round-arched, with keystoned surrounds and panelled double doors. Basement windows are recessed with depressed arches and keystones. The ground floor features square-headed windows with bold voussoirs. Tall round-arched windows above the gallery have pilastered reveals and moulded archivolts, fitted with margin-pane glazing. Pedimented niches with statues are positioned within the outer bays, while pilasters divide the inner bays, supporting engaged Corinthian columns. The building has a richly moulded eaves band with a dentil course, a deep mutuled cornice, and a balustraded parapet with statues. The roof is piended slate. A tall end bay at the southwest angle balances the tower and has a solid parapet with angled urn finials. The tower rises above the eaves in two stages, with pilastered niches above engaged columns, a cornice, and a pilastered tempietto with urns at the base angles. An octagonal dome with a small lantern rises from the tower to a cross finial. The north elevation features a full-height apsidal narthex with pilastered windows. The east elevation is constructed from squared rubble with five arched lights.

Inside, the church is richly finished. U-shaped galleries extend to three sides, supported on slender cast-iron columns with panelled, stencilled, and partly gilded fronts. A carved pulpit rests on a raised dais to the south, alongside a magnificent organ with partly stencilled pipes. A large three-light stained glass window is set in the south gable. Original pews and church furniture remain throughout. Decorative features include plaster beams, cornicing, and roses in the ceiling. The apsidal narthex to the north is separated from the main body of the church by an acid-etched glazed screen, with an elaborate Corinthian screen at ground level and a curved forestair. Ground floor windows are architraved, and a perron stair provides access to the galleries.

The boundary walls and railings along Cathedral Square consist of a low coped polished ashlar wall supporting decorative cast-iron railings. Further north, a solid ashlar wall with a pedimented gateway provides access to the main entrance at the apsidal narthex.

Adjoining the church at 14 Cathedral Square is Church House, a two-story building on a raised basement. The upper floors are polished ashlar, while the ground floor is rusticated. The building has a wedge-shaped plan with a regular three-bay front to Cathedral Square, including an entrance on the south flank. The first floor has small square attic windows, and all windows are sash and case with four-pane glazing. Moulded band courses are present over the basement and at the first cills, along with an eaves cornice, and the roof slopes with piended slate. A rubble rear elevation completes the structure.