Monday 28 May 2012: The Hatrack

I got the train in to Glasgow today, and walked up Hope Street and took some pictures of Mackintosh's Daily Record Building in Mitchell Lane. A bit further up Hope Street I stopped and took some pictures of the Hatrack on St. Vincent Street.

The Hatrack is one of Glasgow's most unusual buildings in the city, it is the closest any building in Scotland comes to the organic ingenuity of the great Barcelona architect, Antoni Gaudi. The predominantly glazed front was required for a building ten storeys high on a very narrow plot. In addition to the great bay windows rising up through the facade, there are layers of carved stonework, bulging little balconies and dormers with decorative caps. The composition is fittingly topped off by an octagonal, lead-clad tower whose coat-hook-like embellishments gave the building the nickname by which it is now universally known.

It was designed by the Glasgow architect James Salmon Jr (1873-1924), and was completed in 1902. Salmon came from three generations of Glasgow architects, and got the nickname of "The Wee Troot". He often used a lot of sculpture on buildings, such as Mercantile Chambers. Salmon has crammed a lot into the tiny facade of The Hatrack - there are over forty windows alone ! Over the doorway is a lovely drum shaped stained-glass window, featuring a sailing ship which I decided to focus on today.

The Hatrack is one of Glasgow's top 50 Buildings and well worth a visit.

• DMC-TZ65:
• f/4.3:
• 1/50":
• 17.0mm:
• ISO 125

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