The Athenaeum, 8 Nelson Mandela Place, Glasgow

The Athenaeum, located at 8 Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow, was designed by Sir J J Burnet (Burnet Son and Campbell) in 1886. This building features three storeys and a sunk basement, with a five-bay arrangement of 1-3-1. The exterior is finished in polished ashlar, with the ground floor channelled. The outer bays have similar architraved entrances, each topped with small tripartite windows. The basement lights are also architraved, featuring pilaster mullions, wrought-iron grilles, and linking bands. At the ground floor, there are three single-light sash and case windows set in recessed margins.

On the first floor, there is a solid parapet with panelled pedestals that project forward on consoles to create shallow balconies in the outer bays, in front of plain recessed windows. The outer sculpture groups sit atop corniced channelled pedestals. The central three-bay section showcases a giant order of superimposed Ionic columns that frame arched windows glazed on the second floor, which spring from wide pilasters. The main cornices project forward to form sculpture podia, with plain small circular windows in the outer bays. The third floor features a tall frieze, with a single standing sculpted figure by John Mossman on each column, representing Flaxman, Wren, Purcell, and Reynolds. The building is capped with an eaves cornice, a parapet, and an end stack.

Inside, only fragments remain from the 1932 fire and subsequent reconstruction.