Look up. The towering corner building which can be seen all the way down West Nile Street is the  former Glasgow Herald, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s first big public commission in the city. 

The Lighthouse, now Scotland’s centre for Architecture, Design and the City, was designed by Mackintosh in 1895 when he was an assistant draughtsman in the architectural firm of Honeyman and Keppie.

The top of the tower, which Niall describes as a massive piece of sculpture, was designed by Mackintosh to house an 8,000 gallon water tank which fed the sprinkler system – an essential part of the printing room in the days when the presses regularly caught fire. 

Note the ‘seed’ motif which grows upwards into the 'tree of knowledge', flowering at the top of the building.  This motif was incorporated into the Lighthouse extension in 1999 by David Page the architect at Page and Park who also designed the Theatre Royal extension, linking two dramatic Glasgow corner buildings across time and space.

Glasgow Herald Building now The Lighthouse

As we stand on the corner of Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street, we can see the Cleland Testimonial building, a hugely significant structure in the development of Glasgow as a City, and a monument to a remarkable man.

Niall invites historian Ronnie Scott to tell the story of James Cleland, a cabinetmaker who made his mark as a highly influential public servant. As Superintendent of Public Works he transformed Glasgow Green into a public park but was also a forward-thinking statistician. Glasgow was the first UK city to carry out a census under Cleland's guidance.

Cleland died in 1840 just six years after he retired from public office but he spent the last few years of his life in the building in front of us which had been commissioned to honour his services to the city. 

A statue was not deemed an appropriate monument for the innovative and influential Cleland, and so this neo-classical building was designed by the Glasgow's first professional architect, David Hamilton in 1835.

Cleland Testimonial 249 Buchanan Street

Lending itself perfectly to the maxim 'look up when in Glasgow',  the meeting of Renfield Street and West Regent Street offers extraordinary variety in the architecture of four 'flamboyant' buildings.  

Karin Currie joins Niall to talk us round the contrasting materials at one of Glasgow's most striking junctions:  red brick, red sandstone, blonde sandstone and white granite in what's left of the old Odeon Cinema.  

The buildings present a fine display of the diversity of Glasgow's architectural style. We circle round the Scottish Baronial grandeur of the Business Chambers, intricately detailed  Glasgow Baroque of the red sandstone Castle Chambers, virtuoso red brick (unusual in Glasgow) of the former Prudential Assurance, and finally the handsome 'nighttime architecture' of the once glistening Art Deco Odeon. The old cinema, which began life as the Paramount in 1934, was the first building to introduce neon lighting in the city.  

All this at one remarkable crossroads.

Junction of West Regent Street and Renfield Street

Roger Guthrie helps Niall uncover Baroque influence in the dramatic architecture of two ornate buildings with a colourful history.

The name has gone but clues to the original R W Forsyth's department store remain in the female figures symbolising fashion – and changing seasons.

Like many other great Glasgow buildings the department store began life as a warehouse, this one built in 1856 by Boucher & Cousland. Celebrated Scottish architect Sir John James Burnet then made extensive alterations in 1896 creating a corner building of grand style.

Look at the opposite corner, the Venetian Renaissance building was originally a furniture warehouse. Built by Glasgow church architect John Honeyman in 1872, Ca' d'Oro is said to have been based on the 'Golden House' in Venice.

The lacy cast iron facade caused American architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock to describe this as one of the best streets in Glasgow... if not in Europe.

RW Forsyth & Ca' d'Oro Building Gordon Street

Standing at the corner of Bothwell Street and Hope Street, we see the regal structure of the Grand Central Hotel. It seems so solidly rooted to the spot, yet it occupies the site of the long forgotten Grahamston Village.

Grand Central Hotel was built to serve the station after the historic village was ruthlessly demolished in the 1880s to make way for Caledonian Railway. Karin Currie makes a powerful comparison with modern day construction of the Glasgow motorway which also led to the re-housing of many residents. 

Grand by name and nature, the building accommodates a diverse range of styles accumulated across the years, with the original design by Sir Rowand Anderson in 1879 and subsequent extensions by James Miller in classic Glasgow complimentary architectural style.

Asserting its importance with a Swedish-style clock tower, strong Victorian bevelled frontage, castle-like elements and cast iron features, this is truly a building central to Glasgow's history.

Grand Central Hotel

Our tour begins at the Theatre Royal where Niall Murphy meets historian Fergus Sutherland and architect David Page.

The splendid new entrance, a theatrical performance in its own right and designed by Page/Park Architects, brings visible drama and quality back to Glasgow’s oldest theatre. Since first opening in 1867, the Theatre Royal has had a long history of entertaining audiences with pantomimes, cinema and circuses.

From 1957 the Theatre Royal became the Scottish Television Theatre, broadcasting live shows across the nation. In 1975 the building was sold to Scottish Opera who converted it back into the Theatre Royal and established as the permanent performance home of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet.

Now the grand new entrance, echoing the curve of the 19th century auditorium built by Charles Phipps, welcomes the public with a warmhearted flourish. Inside, the winding staircase built by the Scottish Opera’s own set designers and joiners, almost dances its way up through the theatre, inviting us to follow.

Theatre Royal

Welcome to this intriguing journey round dramatic corners of Glasgow. 

Our guide Niall Murphy, and architect David Page, explain why Glasgow's grid system provides such promising meeting points.  

When the grid system shifts, just a little, austere right angles take on a more enticing shape and the corner becomes an opportunity to make a mark.  Come with us to see how Glasgow exploits such opportunities to the full so that buildings turn corners in style.

Introduction to Glasgow Corners

Fergus Sutherland discusses how tobacco lords and entrepreneurial retailers played a part in establishing the main streets we see in the centre of Glasgow today.

Marvel at the baroque dome and decadent Victorian balconies of what is now the Fraser's building, originally designed by architect Horatio Bromhead in 1900—3. Before that Stewart & Macdonald had occupied this corner, expanding upon their wholesale drapery business in the 1830s. Bromhead continued in the style of the earlier neighbouring building by Scottish architect William Spence, a typically generous Glasgow gesture.

Crossing the road to view the opposite corner of Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, take a look at the Burton's building, designed by architects Pierce & Martin and completed in 1929. Now occupied by HSBC this was one of the flagship stores of the largest retail tailors in the world.

Delving into the past of Glasgow's most famous shopping street, we finally meet the Full Monty.

Fraser's Argyle Street & Burton's Buchanan Street

Fergus Sutherland describes the development of the city centre from farm lands and countryside to the bustling shopping centre it is today.