Pavilion

Unlike many grand variety palaces, the Pavilion is still gloriously alive and has now been entertaining Glaswegians for over ninety years. Like much of its famously Francophile architect’s work, the Pavilion is an interesting essay in the French Renaissance style. The prominent corner site is clad in buff terra cotta. The long frontage to Renfield Street has three main bays, each consisting of three subordinate bays, with elliptical pediments and oeil de bœuf windows at the fourth storey. The façade to Renfrew Street (the rear of the auditorium) is flanked by stair towers with pointed roofs.

Foyer spaces are robust rather than luxurious, but distinguished by ornate terrazzo flooring. The entrance hall is circular with a heavy cornice. Dingy bars and waiting rooms are squeezed into unlikely corners, adding greatly to the theatre’s period charm.

Despite its capaciousness, the auditorium is remarkably intimate with two wide and deep serpentine-fronted balconies. Single boxes on each side at first balcony level are framed by composite columns carrying a wide elliptical arch, enriched with scrolls, over the unfortunately altered proscenium. The side walls above the upper tier have blank arches carried by terms and rising to the ceiling coves. This is divided into panels with a sliding roof. Vigorous Rococo plasterwork is liberally applied to every surface, yet the decoration presently looks half-finished as the drapes, pelmets, gilding and fresco panels are missing and need to be be replaced. The Pavilion is nonetheless a remarkable survivor as a commercial theatre.