Sloan's Restaurant, 61 Argyll Arcade, Glasgow

Sloan's Restaurant, located at 61 Argyll Arcade, Glasgow, dates from 1827-8 and was possibly designed by John Baird, with significant interior remodelling undertaken around 1900 by Charles H Robinson. The building comprises a large bar, dining room, and coffee room complex with entrances from both Morrison Court and Argyll Arcade, and boasts exceptional decorative interiors, particularly on the upper floors.

The Morrison Court elevation is a three-storey, seven-bay, tenement-style building with rounded corners. The exterior is faced with painted, squared, and coursed masonry. The ground floor has been altered, with remnants of a segmental carriage arch visible in the penultimate bay from the left. Entrances are located in the central, left, and right bays.

The entrance from Argyll Arcade features a segmental-arched, columned timber surround with deeply recessed, glazed, two-leaf timber doors and sidelights. This leads to a marble staircase and a highly decorative tiled vestibule, incorporating patterned tiles in cream, blue, green, yellow, and brown, along with a dado featuring regularly spaced, floriate tiled columns.

The interior displays an exceptional, highly decorative Art Nouveau scheme from around 1900, with outstanding carved timberwork and high-quality plasterwork incorporating Classical motifs. The ground floor has been altered. A timber island bar with a columned timber gantry is present. An ornate, arcaded, glazed timber screen with etched glass and a two-leaf door leads to an impressive panelled stairwell featuring a mosaic floor and a large wall painting located on the first-floor landing. A heavy, dark timber staircase is fitted with decorative newel posts.

On the first floor, arcaded glazed timber screens with etched glass line the spine corridor, leading to various rooms. To the left of the corridor is a large dining room featuring a timber panelled dado with bell pushes, a deep frieze to the cornice with low relief plasterwork depicting putti, and strapwork plasterwork to the ceiling. A smaller, adjoining dining room shares similar decorative treatment and an ornate chimneypiece with an overmantle mirror. To the right of the corridor is a small bar, also with similar decorative treatment, alongside further rooms including a kitchen area. Glass chandeliers illuminate the principal rooms, with some Art Nouveau stained glass present.

The second floor is dominated by a large ballroom with a vaulted, coffered ceiling and a parquet floor. A timber dado supports regularly spaced pilasters, each adorned with plaster heads. A deep cornice features open pediments, egg and dart moulding, and festoons. A Classical marble chimneypiece includes a horseshoe tiled insert and an overmantle mirror. Stained glass windows are decorated with a wreath motif.

The windows are a mixture of types, predominantly timber sash and case windows with two panes over two panes, with horns to the top floor (where stained glass is located). Some timber casement windows are found on the first floor. A dormered mansard roof extends over the outer two bays to the left, alongside an adjacent wallhead chimneystack.