Glasgow’s City Chambers, the headquarters of Glasgow City Council, is an imposing building that was completed from 1888. There are (pre-COVID) free public tours twice a day Monday to Friday with tickets handed out on a first come first served basis. I got there about half an hour before the start time and was first in a group of about eight people.
Our tour guide – whose name I’m afraid I can no longer remember – was excellent and gave us an overview of the work the council does as well as the architecture of the building, which really is stunning.
The entrance of the building from George Square gives you a good idea of what to expect from the rest of the building. It’s estimated that more than 1.5 million tiles were laid by hand in the ceiling as well as the mosaic on the floor of the original 1866 design of the city’s coat of arms.
As the Chambers are obviously a working building it wasn’t possible to visit every room normally available to the tour on my visit but one of the areas we did get to see included the Banqueting Hall with its three central chandeliers, the electric lighting having been installed in 1885.
A definite highlight of the building though are the staircases – built with Carrara marble imported from Italy this is claimed to be the largest marble staircase in western Europe.
Absolutely beautiful it’s definitely somewhere you should visit if you get the chance. You can find some more photos here.
Louise Jayne's Blog 