Mechanics' Institute, 38 Bath Street, Glasgow

The Mechanics' Institute, located at 38 Bath Street in Glasgow, was designed by James Salmon, senior, in 1861, with the top storeys added by Arthur Hamilton around 1910. The building has three storeys and a full basement, with later double attic storeys and five bays. The ground floor and basement feature painted ashlar with a channelled finish, while the side elevation is made of snecked stone and the rear is constructed of droved ashlar. There are also brick additions on the sides and rear.

A central projecting portico features a pediment supported by coupled Roman Doric columns and pilasters on corniced plinths, topped with a full entablature. All windows are casement style with T-pane glazing on the upper floors. The ground floor has broad pilasters between the bays and a plain entablature with a mutule cornice. The first floor includes a continuous plinth pierced with balusters.

The building showcases a giant Ionic order that rises through the first and second floors, with recessed pilastrade on each floor and an arched design with a keystone on the second floor, also topped with a full entablature. The double attic features angle piers that rise through both floors in the outer bays, with projecting plinths supporting sculpted brackets. The outer bays break forward and have arched windows with keystones on the fourth floor, which is the first floor of the addition, and an entablature with a balustrade in the outer bays. The fifth floor, which is the second floor of the addition, has a recessed eaves gallery in the central bays, featuring a dwarf Doric semi-engaged colonnade with coupled columns in the central bays. The outer bays are adorned with broken segmental pediments and sculpted escutcheons. The building is capped with a mutule cornice.

On the rear elevation, there are some 12-pane windows on the ground and first floors, along with two outer bays and a single central bay featuring shallow canted bay windows with metal glazing bars above the first floor.