191-197 Howard Street, Glasgow

This is a three-storey and attic block of tenements with shops on the ground floor, built in 1902 to a design by H E Clifford. The building occupies a curved site in Glasgow. The front is constructed of cream sandstone ashlar at ground level, with red brick walls above and at the rear, incorporating stone dressings. The end pavilions rise to four storeys and are arranged as two bays by two bays. Modern shop fronts occupy the ground floor, surmounted by a frieze and moulded cornice. Decorative entrances to closes are located at numbers 149, 165, 179, and 195, each featuring rounded corners, hoodmoulds with cartouched keystones, label stops, and a large, keystoned oculus above – some of these oculi are filled with decorative grilles displaying the close number. A carriage pend is situated between numbers 179 and 195.

The central section of the front elevation has ten symmetrical bays above the ground floor. This incorporates two gabled tripartite bays containing bracketed balconies with carved panels and aedicules framing the centre windows at the second floor level. These are flanked by octagonal turrets with ogee-shaped, finialled stone roofs, and each turret has a decorative, blind aedicule in its gable apex. Further tripartite bays are positioned on either side, each with its own gable and a connecting balcony, featuring central aedicules at the second floor. The elevation is further punctuated by wallhead stacks with ornamented ashlar necks and coping. The bays adjoining the end pavilions are arranged with varying numbers of bays on each side – 5-8-8 to the left and 7-7-6 to the right – but share a similar design. At the first floor are grouped windows with lipped lintels; the second floor features windows with Ionic columns and mullions. These outer groups are flanked by coped wallhead stacks with cartouched, pedimented panels at the second-floor level. The eaves overhang and are supported by timber brackets.

The end pavilions have tripartite windows on the first and second floors, again with aediculed centre lights to the second-floor windows, all linked by a string course. A single tripartite window is above this, set against a parapet with a raised semi-circular panel. Pilastered quoins terminate in squat, ogee-roofed, finialled tempietto structures. The slate-covered pyramid roof culminates in a lead finial. The exterior details of the pavilion ends, facing both Dunlop Street and Stockwell Street, are consistent. The main roof is a slated mansard, punctuated by flat-roofed timber dormers with bipartite and tripartite window arrangements. The windows throughout are sash and case, with plate glass at the first floor, and vertical paned upper sashes at the second floor and above.

The rear elevation (facing Stockwell Place) is asymmetrical, with irregular bay sizes and window arrangements. Advanced stair bays break through the eaves, and stepped stair windows are incorporated into the design. Small-pane glazing is used in the top-hopper windows, and the dormers are detailed in a similar manner to the Howard Street elevation.