Ca' d'Oro Building

Over in Glasgow at the lawyers doing legal stuff this afternoon.

The lawyers office is in the wonderful Ca' d'Oro building at the corner of Gordon and Union Streets. It was designed in 1872 by Glasgow architect, John Honeyman.

It is believed Honeyman based his design on the 15th Century Ca’ d’Oro building in Venice, sometimes known as the Golden House. He used triple-arched cast iron frames, which were cast at the Saracen Iron Foundry in Glasgow. The building’s best feature is its large bay windows, in the Venecian style of an open ended figure-of-eight. The roof features a glazed atrium, allowing light to flow into the centre of the building. The Ca’ d’Oro nickname was reinforced in 1927 when the Ca' d'Oro restaurant, designed by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia, was opened by building an additional concrete floor on top of the original structure, an ugly extension which did nothing to complement the original design. It was converted to a ballroom in the 1950s. However, in 1987 a fire broke out, destroying this upper level, although Honeyman’s original cast iron frame survived. After a major refurbishment, the building was reopened in 1990.

Hope you have had a good Wednesday.