Mercantile Chambers, 39-69 Bothwell Street, Glasgow

The Mercantile Chambers, located at 39-69 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, were designed by James Salmon junior of Salmon, Son, and Gillespie, and built in 1897-8. Sculptor Derwent Wood created the four stone statues incorporated into the building’s design. This six-story and attic commercial building, with nine main bays, is an example of Art Nouveau architecture. The façade is polished ashlar, while the rear elevation is brick.

The ground floor features an arcade with squat columns and sculpted imposts, now housing modern shops. The main entrance, at number 53 Bothwell Street, is marked by a semi-circular projecting aedicule with a canopy supported on barley-sugar columns. The sculpted figure of a seated man is supported by richly sculpted cherubic brackets. The arched entrance has a wrought-iron fan grille, incorporating two off-centre voussoir blocks shaped as stylized heads.

The paired outer bays have vertically linked canted windows extending from the first to fourth floors. The first floor windows are framed by slim, stylized columns with exaggerated entasis, supporting window heads that feature animal relief sculpture. The windows above are plain. A double attic storey is supported by giant, free-standing columns, linked by a wrought-iron balustrade, culminating in a sculpted, pedimented head with a finial.

The five-bay central section is notable for sculpted heads above the first-floor windows and a frieze displaying raised lettering reading "Trees grow, birds fly, fish swim, bells ring." Second-floor windows are flanked by sculpted figures in consoled niches representing ‘prosperity’, ‘prudence’, and ‘industry’. The third and fourth floors feature slim, giant attached stylized composite columns. A balcony breaks forward in the outer bays, supported by a wrought-iron balustrade. Sculpted heads are positioned above the third-floor windows in the outer bays. The fourth floor has a plain cornice, followed by a four-bay arched eaves gallery with canted tripartite windows. The main cornice is followed by corniced dormers with pyramidal slate roofs in the outer bays of the central section. A canted dormer in the central bay is supported on a richly sculpted bracket, with a bell-cast roof and finial. Narrow windows on each floor accentuate the centre of the elevation above the first floor.

The rear elevation, facing Bothwell Lane, incorporates eight bays of shallow, canted metal-framed windows extending from the first floor. A four-bay raised attic section is positioned at the centre. The ground floor has two arched bays with keyblocks, each tripartite and with a fanlight featuring timber glazing bars. An arched, incised panel between the two bays displays incised Art Nouveau lettering reading "The Mercantile Chambers." Cast-iron columns are present in the basement.