Douglas Chambers, 5 Keith Street, Hamilton

Douglas Chambers is a three-storey commercial building dated 1903, designed by Alexander Cullen and situated on a corner site at the junction of Keith Street and Castle Street, with additional two-storey and three-storey buildings extending along Keith Street. The building exhibits Free Classical detailing and is constructed of cream-coloured ashlar with slate roofs.

The main corner building is the most prominent feature, showcasing a corniced frieze at the first floor level, incorporating cartouche corbels. A moulded cill course runs along the first and second floors, topped by a corniced and finialled wallhead. Aediculed pediments adorn the Castle Street elevation, while the Keith Street elevation features a pediment with an oculus. Large, keystoned, and moulded round-headed windows are present on the ground floor, with corniced bipartites above, featuring sash and case windows with plate glass in the lower sashes and nine-pane glazing in the upper sashes. A pilastrade detail is visible on the upper floors. A rounded angle tower is topped with a finialled conical roof.

The subsidiary buildings along Keith Street share some common details, including corniced ground floor cornices, moulded cill courses, and moulded wallhead courses. They have single and bipartite windows with sash and case frames; these include plate glass in the lower sashes and six-pane glazing in the upper sashes on the first floor, with plate glass glazing on the top floors. These buildings also feature a rounded angle tower.

The Castle Street elevation has two windows of differing sizes on the ground floor, and three bipartites on the upper floors. The Keith Street elevation’s left side features a door within a rounded angle, sheltered by a round-headed hood with brackets, flanked by sidelights. Corbelling is present on the upper floors, along with several windows displaying mannered lintels. The second floor has an aediculed pediment featuring a wreathed portrait relief. To the right, three windows are spaced along the first and second floors, with a tall, corniced stack corbelled from the first floor. Further irregular bays extend to the far right, containing a corniced door, a keystoned oculus, and a variety of windows. The two-storey and attic building to the left of Keith Street has a door, three ground-floor windows, three first-floor windows, and a bipartite window within a pedimented centre bay at the attic, flanked by segmental dormer windows. The adjacent three-storey building has a ground-floor door and two large windows, two upper-floor windows, a tall corbelled stack, and a rounded angle featuring a ground-floor door and window, with four upper-floor windows. Similar treatment is found on the return elevation.

The interior of the building has not been inspected.