Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, GILMOREHILL CAMPUS BUILDING B3, GRAHAM KERR BUILDINGLB32928

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Group Category Details
100000019 - See Notes
Date Added
15/12/1970
Local Authority
Glasgow
Planning Authority
Glasgow
Burgh
Glasgow
NGR
NS 56625 66632
Coordinates
256625, 666632

Description

Sir John James Burnet (Burnet, Son and Dick), 1923-27; later additions to W. 2-storey and basement, neo-Baroque university department and museum building. Asymmetrical U-plan with single storey infill and later range to W. Polished ashlar, all channelled. Plinth with keyblocked basement window architraves. Ground floor level band course. Continuous parapet breaking through. Louvred cupola over entrance range.

E ELEVATION: central entrance bay breaking forward with recessed architrave, panel over "ZOOLOGY 1923", stairlight above breaking through open segmental pediment. Plain walls to right and left of entrance.

N ELEVATION: 12 bays separated by pilaster strips; casement windows with glazing bars.

S ELEVATION: continuous plain wall running into W lateral section with keyblocked, blind window, axial stacks, slate roof.

Steel-framed casement and hopper windows. Grey slate piended roof to N and E ranges; replacement Mansard roof over Museum wing and later W range. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: (seen 2010). ENTRANCE HALL: glazed timber vestibule doors with brass fixings; later inner vestibule screen; granolithic floor with contrasting margins; plain cornice and compartmental ceiling. MAIN STAIR: broad scale and platt stair; iron balusters with timber handrail and carved beast heads, decorative newel finials. UPPER STAIR HALL: granolithic floor; coved ceiling. MAIN LECTURE THEATRE: tiered, curved seating (replacement); timber paneled walls; timber balustrade to rear of seating; original window blind mechanism in place. ZOOLOGY MUSEUM: large rectangular-plan room in the form of a temple; timber floor; colonnaded walls; compartmental ceiling. LABORATORY: large N-facing windows.

Statement of Special Interest

The Graham Kerr Building forms an A-Group with the Joseph Black Buildings (see separate listing). The Graham Kerr Building is an outstanding example of a largely unaltered work by the notable Glasgow architect, Sir John James Burnet. The building marks a transition between the Baroque characteristics of his earlier buildings and the early modern direction of his practice at this period, and has a design which is characterised by this evolution in style, including the deeply channelled ashlar facings.

The different functions of parts of the building are expressed externally through massing and detailing, including the stepped windows (S elevation) to the raked Main Lecture Theatre. Norman Dick (architect with Burnet's practice) was largely responsible for the details of the design. Key surviving features of the original building include the microscopy laboratories with their large metal-framed windows for 'good northern light', the Museum, Main Lecture Theatre and Main Staircase. Originally the Museum was top-lit by diffuse light from a cupola above - the roof was later altered.

John James Burnet was one of Scotland's leading architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Son of another architect, John Burnet Senior, he trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Burnet was a pioneer of the stylistic move from historicist styles to a tradition-based, but free-style architecture. He developed enormously successful and influential practices in Glasgow and London, designing a number of eminent buildings including the Fine Art Institute, Athenaeum Theatre, Charing Cross Mansions, Atlantic Chambers and Clyde Navigation Trust Offices in Glasgow and the Kodak Building, the second and third phases of Selfridges, Adelaide House, and the King Edward VII Wing at the British Museum in London. Burnet was knighted for the latter project in 1914. Commissions for the University of Glasgow included: John McIntyre Building (1886), Bower Building (1900), Anatomical (Thomson) Building (1900-01), James Watt Engineering North Building (1901 and 1908), University Chapel (1923-29) and Hunter Memorial (1925). The neighbouring Glasgow Western Infirmary also employed Burnet Sr and John James Burnet for a number of projects.

The building is named after Sir John Graham Kerr (1869-1957), a Cambridge evolutionary embryologist, who was appointed to the Regius Chair of Natural History (Zoology) in 1902. He was especially interested in marine biology and Scottish natural history.

Formerly listed as '1L Gilmorehill, University Of Glasgow, Zoology Building'.

List description updated as part of review of the University of Glasgow Hillhead Campus, 2011. The building number is derived from the University of Glasgow Main Campus Map (2007), as published on the University's website www.gla.ac.uk.

References

Bibliography

Ordnance Survey, Large Scale Town Plan: Glasgow, 1933-34; Glasgow University Archives, Drawings Collection Ref. GB 0248 GUA BUL/6/16/1-127; Architects Journal (21/09/1927); Builder (30/10/1925); D Walker 'Scotland at the Turn of the Century' in Edwardian Architecture & its Origins (A Service, ed.), (1975) p. 211; C McKean, D Walker, F Walker, Central Glasgow: Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland Illustrated Architectural Guide, (1989) p. 185; E Williamson, A Riches, M Higgs, The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow, (1990) p. 342; M Hansell, H Harris, M Reilly & G D Ruxton, Architectural Treasures of the University of Glasgow, (2009) pp.34-35; 'Glasgow University Zoology' search at www.scottisharchitects.org.uk (accessed 03-03-2010).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 13:51