Merchants' House, 7 West George Street, Glasgow

The Merchants' House, located at 7 West George Street, Glasgow, is a substantial three-story and basement office building initially designed by John Burnet and constructed between 1874 and 1878. It was subsequently extended by two stories and an attic by J J Burnet Son between 1907 and 1908. Sculpture for the building was executed by Young.

The building is constructed of cream-colored ashlar sandstone. The ground floor displays alternating bands of channelled and vermiculated decoration, with prominent quoins. A cornice marks the ground floor, while a guilloche cill course is located at the second floor. A mutule cornice, featuring grouped brackets, sits above the original second-floor eaves. J J Burnet Son’s addition incorporates giant attached columns on panelled bases and a further mutule cornice on paired brackets, culminating in urn finials.

The George Square elevation presents eight bays and features a broken, cartouched, segmental pediment above an Ionic doorpiece, incorporating a moulded fanlight. Round-arched windows at ground level have masked keystones, while basement openings are raised and accompanied by decorative railings. Architraved windows are present at the first and second floors; those at the first floor feature consoled, segmental shell pediments and balustraded balconies. Bold keystones accentuate the third-floor architraved windows, and the outer left bay is distinguished by a broken segmental pediment above the fourth floor.

The corner bays are symmetrical in design, with ground-floor windows mirroring those elsewhere and a bowed first-floor oriel supported by flying caryatids. Ionic mullions and blind balconies enhance the oriel’s aesthetic. Fish-scale carving adorns the stone cupolas, while second-floor windows are tripartite, third-floor windows are bipartite, and the fourth-floor windows are balconied. A single light window is positioned under a broad segmental pediment breaking the eaves, above which a plinth supports a drum tower with a domed roof and a gilded sphere and ship finial.

The West George Street elevation, characterized by five symmetrical bays, exhibits heightened elaboration on the first floor. A tripartite doorway dominates the center, flanked by round-arched bipartites with masked keystones. The central three bays feature tripartite first-floor windows with broken, open, consoled pediments, incorporating cartouches and symbolic figures. The bowed oriels on the outer bays mirror those on the corner, and the second-floor windows are bipartites, with tripartites on the outer bays. Giant attached columns define the upper stories added by J J Burnet Son, and the outer bays break the eaves in segmental panels with balconies on the fourth floor.

The Anchor Lane elevation presents two ashlar bays, mirroring the detailing on the George Street elevation and lacking the attached columns of the later stories. The remaining bays are of simpler ashlar construction.

Plate glass sash and case windows are set within a slate mansard roof punctuated by timber dormer windows.

The interior features marble-lined staircases to the east and north. A stained glass stair window, created by W and J J Kier in 1877–8, and a panel in the west door, dated circa 1913, are notable elements. An open timber roof in the Hall, designed by J J Burnet circa 1913–14, is also of interest. Some furnishings were brought in from the former Merchants' Hall located in the Bridgegate and later from the Hall within the County Buildings on Wilson Street.