Ymca, Brandon Street, Motherwell

The YMCA building on Brandon Street in Motherwell was designed by Alexander Cullen in 1898. It is a three-storey, seven-bay, rectangular-plan structure with an asymmetrical Jacobethan style. The exterior is made of red ashlar sandstone and features a large mullioned and transomed window in a slightly advanced gabled bay on the right. There is a dividing band between the first and second storeys, an eaves course, and stone mullions and transoms on the windows.

On the principal southwest elevation, the ground floor has a plate glass shop front in the outer left bay, with a door to the right and a double entrance door in the centre bay, which is covered by a pentice hood. The outer left bay features a canted bay with a coped parapet on the first floor, with a window to the right and a bipartite dormer breaking the eaves above, topped with a semicircular pediment. The centre bay also has a bipartite window on the first floor, with a similar dormer and pediment above. To the right, there is a broad gabled bay with obelisk finials, four segmental-headed windows on the ground floor, and a bracketed balcony ledge above. A massive double-height tripartite window is located above, with a quadripartite mullioned and transomed window in the centre, flanked by eaves-height pilasters that support plinths and narrow transomed windows. The centre of the gablehead features a shield, with a blocked window above.

The northeast rear elevation is obscured by a later addition, while the northwest side elevation is also obscured by an adjoining building. The southeast side elevation has a tripartite window on the first floor.

The building predominantly features sash and case windows with nine-pane upper sashes and plate glass lower sashes. The roof is covered with grey slates and lead flashing, and it has coped gable and ridge stacks, along with cast-iron rainwater goods.

Inside, there is a central arcaded lobby supported by Tuscan columns with entasis. The central doorways have semicircular fanlights with original stained glass, including the YMCA logo. Original timber panelling and dentil cornice plasterwork can be found throughout the principal rooms. There is a large double-height gabled hall located on the first floor to the southeast.