1 The article is based on a chapter from: Cusack, Patricia, ‘Reinforced Concrete in Britain: 1897–1908’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1981), pp. 465–97 Google Scholar.

2 François Hennebique’s system or method of reinforced concrete, among many different ‘systems’ in Europe and elsewhere in the early 1900s, was the most successful and the most prolific. Hennebique and his system are discussed in: Cusack, pp. 70–77, 153–58, 256–90.

3 Mouchel, L. G. & Ltd, Partners, Mouchel-Hennebique Ferro-Concrete. List of Works Executed in the U.K. 1897–1919 (London, 1920 Google Scholar), together with many individual studies: Cusack, pp. 504–25.

4 Cusack, pp. 286–90.

5 Cusack, pp. 115–21, 195, 214.

6 Cusack, pp. 48–68, 78–79, 82–91, 115–23.

7 Extant drawings, referred to below; ‘Office Buildings and Business Premises’, Builders’Journal, 28 November 1906, p. 272; ‘Lion Chambers, Hope St. Glasgow: Some Interesting Constructive Details’, Building Industries, 15 July 1907, p. 53, from W. N. Twelvetrees, Concrete-Steel Buildings.

8 Cusack, pp. 323–29.

9 Cusack, pp. 294–303.

10 Mouchel, L. G. & Ltd, Partners, ‘Project Record No. 1. Nos. I to 8750’, 38 Victoria Street, Westminster: No. 922 Google Scholar sent by ‘Guirette’.

11 Ibid.

12 Dean of Guild, Glasgow, ‘Register of Plans, 2nd Series, 1904–10’: 172 Hope Street, for Wm George Black: date of decree: 1 June 1905; reported completed, 11 April 1907. However, Lion Chambers was said to be ‘nearing full completion’ in April 1906: ‘Novel Methods of Building Construction: The Lion Chambers Hope Street, Glasgow’, Building Industries, 16 April 1906, 1–2 (p. 1).

13 ibid., ‘Novel Methods of Building Construction’, p. 2.

14 Hennebique’s system in Britain was generally known as ‘ferro-concrete’, a term coined by L. G. Mouchel, although it sometimes referred to reinforced concrete in general.

15 The Yorkshire Hennebique Contracting Company Ltd. Leeds (Leeds, not dated, e. 1919), not paged.

16 ‘Office Buildings and Business Premises’, op. cit., p. 272. Some of these partitions may have been ‘Mack’ slabs (plaster with embedded reeds): Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘Proposed Building Hope Street for Wm. Geo. Black Esq., 1/2 in. Detail of S.W. Office on 2nd Floor’, 19 April 1905; see also ‘Building Trades Exhibition’, Concrete and Constructional Engineering, 6, No. 5 (May 1911), 356. For a discussion of Stuart’s early interest in reinforced concrete, see Cusack, pp. 61–63, 115–17.

17 Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, Architects, ‘Plans of Proposed Building, 172 Hope St. for Wm. Geo. Black, Esq. ‘, S3 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, 19 April 1905: with these, it was especially noted that, ‘this building is entirely fireproof, and inflammable materials are reduced to a minimum’. Glasgow was ‘notorious for fires’ and it is probable that fire appliances still could not cover eight storeys: Architect & Contract Reporter, 60 (1898), p. 97; Building News, 5 August 1898, p. 196.

18 Glasgow Art Club. List of Members (Glasgow, 1900), p. 24; ‘William George Black, F.S.A., Scot.’in Who’s Who in Glasgow in 1909, compiled by George Eyre-Todd (Glasgow and London, 1909), p. 19; National Library of Scotland, ‘William George Black’, card index.

19 Glasgow Art Club, 1867–1967, p. 19.

20 Eyre-Todd, p. 19.

21 Pevsner, Nikolaus, Studies in Art, Architecture and Design, 2 (London, 1968), 162 Google Scholar.

22 Jack Coia, John Gaff Gillespie’s former pupil, from 1916: personal interview, 30 May 1979.

23 Walker, David, ‘The Partnership of James Salmon and John Gaff Gillespie’, in Alastair Service ed., Edwardian Architecture and its Origins (London, 1975), pp. 240–41 Google Scholar.

24 Who’s Who in Architecture (London, 1914), p. 193.

25 Walker, p. 237.

26 Who’s Who in Architecture (London, 1914), p. 193.

27 Coia, (May 1979).

28 Country Life, 28 August 1969, p. 504.

29 ‘Ferro-Concrete Design for Shop and Offices’, British Architect, 25 June 1909, p. 454.

30 Mouchel, L. G. & Ltd, Partners, Mouchel-Hennebique Ferro-Concrete. List of Works 1879–1919 (London, 1920), p. 27 Google Scholar.

31 James Salmon FRIBA, ‘The Decoration of Steel and Reinforced Concrete Structures’, paper to Glasgow Institute of Architects, 11 March 1908, in Builder’s Journal, 27, 25 March 1908, 269–73.

32 Mouchel, L. G., ‘Monolithic Constructions in Hennebique’s Ferro-Concrete’, paper to RIBA, 21 November 1904, JRIBA, 12, 26 November 1904, pp. 57, 59 Google Scholar.

33 Service, Alastair, Edwardian Architecture, (London, 1977), pp. 116, 132 Google Scholar and p. 131, figure 156: source: Salmon’s lecture (1908) as referred to by Walker, p. 245.

34 Service (1977), p. 116.

35 Walker, p. 247, calls W. F. Salmon the firm’s ‘commercial traveller’.

36 Collins, Peter, Concrete (London, 1959), p. 82 Google Scholar: source: ‘A Reinforced Concrete Office Building’, Builders’ Journal, Concrete and Steel Supplement, 30 January 1907, which does not specify Salmon. Walker, p. 242: sources: Collins, ibid.; ‘Novel Methods of Building Construction’, op. cit., and ‘Office Buildings’, op. cit., which do not specify Salmon. Service (1977), p. 115.

37 ‘A Glasgow Architect. Death of Mr. James Salmon’, Glasgow Herald, 28 April 1924. ‘James Salmon (F). Obituary’, JRIBA, 7 June 1924, p. 513: partly based on the Glasgow Herald’s obituary.

38 For example, ‘Novel Methods of Building Construction’; ‘Office Buildings’; ‘A Reinforced Concrete Office Building’, op. cit.

39 Jack Coia, personal interview, 30 May 1979.

40 ‘The Lion Chambers, Hope St. Glasgow’, illustration in Building Industries, 16 April 1906, p. 9, signed J. G. G.; reproduced in Building Industries, 16 August 1907, p. 73.

41 Gillespie travelled in Spain: Coia (1979).

42 Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, Architects, ‘Proposed Building Hope St. for Wm. Geo. Black, Esq. Elevation to Hope St. and Section’, Glasgow, 15 April 1904; Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, Architects, ‘Proposed Building Hope St. for Wm. Geo. Black, Esq. Elevations: W. Elevation to Hope St. N. Elevation to Bath Lane’, Glasgow, 18 April 1905.

43 Ibid.

44 Illustrated: Walker, p. 238; see also pp. 237, 239.

45 Mercantile Chambers was 53 Bothwell Street: ‘A Glasgow Architect’, op. cit.; this is the address on the architects’ drawings for Lion Chambers.

46 Also J. Coia’s opinion (1979).

47 Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘Elevation to Hope St. and Section’, 15 April 1904, and Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘W. Elevation to Hope St. N. Elevation to Bath Lane’, 18 April 1905, op. cit.; compare: Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, Architects, ‘Proposed Building Hope St. for W. G. Black, Esq., Plan of Top (7th) Floor’, 6 April 1905.

48 L. G. Mouchel CE, ‘Building for W. G. Black, Esq. Glasgow. Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Hope St. Elevation Above 7th Floor, No. 922, Working Plan No. 26’, Westminster, 17 January 1905.

49 L. G. Mouchel CE, ‘Building for W. G. Black, Esq., Glasgow, Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Hope Street Elevation, No. 922, Working Plan No. 15 (modified)’, Westminster, 18 October 1905.

50 ‘Building for Wm. Geo. Black, Esq., Glasgow. Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Cupola. No. 922, Plan No. 224’, 7 December 1905.

51 L. G. Mouchel CE, ‘Building for W. G. Black Esq. Glasgow. Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Tower Roof, No. 922, Working Plan No. 27’, Westminster, 17 January 1906.

52 Ibid.; compare Cantell, M. T., Reinforced Concrete Construction (London 1912), pp. 88, 92 Google Scholar.

53 ‘Cupola. Plan No. 24’, op. cit.; compare ‘Building for W. G. Black Esq. Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Roof, No. 922, Plan No. 22 (modified)’, 10 January 1906.

54 Twelvetrees, W. N., Concrete-Steel Buildings, reported in Building Industries, 15 July 1907, p. 53 Google Scholar.

55 Own inspection and photographs.

56 Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘W. Elevation to Hope St. N. Elevation to Bath Lane’, 18 April 1905.

57 ‘Building for W. G. Black Esq. Glasgow, Construction in Hennebique’s Patent Ferro-Concrete. Bath Lane elevation, No. 922, Working Plan No. 16 (modified)’, 9 December 1905.

58 Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘Elevation to Hope St. and Section’, 15 April 1904.

59 Salmon & Son & Gillespie, ‘W. Elevation to Hope St. N. Elevation to Bath Lane’, 18 April 1905; see PI. 1.

60 Messrs Salmon & Son & Gillespie, Architects, ‘Proposed Building, 172 Hope Street for W. G. Black, South Elevation’, 3 April 1905.

61 Salmon, p. 271.

62 Mouchel, ‘Hope Street Elevation, Working Plan No. 15 (modified)’, 18 October 1905.

63 Mouchel, ‘Bath Lane Elevation, Working Plan No. 16 (modified)’, 9 December 1905.

64 Twelvetrees, op. cit., p. 53.

65 The judges were pre-cast in plaster moulds and tied into the building: ibid.

66 External surfaces rendered with Portland cement mortar: ibid, and author’s inspections, March 1977, and May 1979 when Lion Chambers was being renovated.

67 Charles Marsh, Reinforced Concrete (London, 1904), p. 204.

68 Summerson, Sir John considered ‘free Tudor’ the most ubiquitous stylistic influence in an eclectic period: The Turn of the Century: Architecture in Britain Around 1900 (Glasgow, 1976), p. 24 Google Scholar.

69 Cusack, pp. 429–32.

70 Cusack, pp. 214–15.

71 Comparison of a photograph taken in March 1977, with an illustration in Mouchel, L. G. & Partners, , Hennebique Ferro-Concrete, fourth edition (London, 1921 Google Scholar), shows that one of these has disappeared.

72 Own photographs from roof of Lion Chambers, March 1977; see also Mouchel, ‘Cupola, Plan No. 24’,’ 7 December 1905.

73 The heraldry does not appear to have been coloured.

74 Illustrated in Mouchel & Partners, op. cit. (1921), p. 113.