Livingstone Tower
| Livingstone Tower | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Former names | Alec House Social Sciences Building |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Academic |
| Architectural style | International Modern |
| Location | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°51′40.42″N 4°14′36.45″W / 55.8612278°N 4.2434583°WCoordinates: 55°51′40.42″N 4°14′36.45″W / 55.8612278°N 4.2434583°W |
| Current tenants | University of Strathclyde |
| Construction started | 1962 |
| Completed | 1965 |
| Owner | Glasgow City Council |
| Height | |
| Roof | 52 metres (171 ft) (estimated) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Reinforced Concrete |
| Floor count | 13 (+ 2 underground parking levels + roof terrace) |
| Lifts/elevators | 4 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Covell, Matthews & Partners |
| Developer | Glasgow Corporation / Royal College of Science and Technology |
| Main contractor | Sir Robert McAlpine |
The Livingstone Tower is a prominent high rise building in Glasgow, Scotland and is a part of the University of Strathclyde's John Anderson Campus, one of the 2 campuses the university operates from. The building was named after David Livingstone. The address of the building is 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow.
The building is a notable landmark in the eastern side of the city centre, and its high position on the drumlin of Rottenrow means it can be seen from some considerable distance throughout the city's East End. It was also among the earliest high-rise commercial buildings to go up in the city centre in the post-war period, pre-dated only by St Andrew's House (1964), Fleming House (1961), and the Royal Stuart Hotel (1963)—the latter having been owned by Strathclyde University in the 1980s and early 1990s as a student hall of residence.
The Livingstone Tower was constructed between 1962 and 1964 as Alec House – a commercial office building in a partnership between Glasgow Corporation, the former Royal College of Science and Technology and a commercial development company. The site was formerly occupied by a row of tenement houses, but these were cleared after Townhead was declared a Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) in the 1950s. As part of this development – inspired by the findings of the 1945 Bruce Report, central areas of the city were re-zoned for commercial or educational use.
The building is of reinforced concrete construction, and was state of the art in its construction methods at the time – being clad with a curtain wall in opaque dark green glass spandrel panels framed by orange metal uprights. With its original commercial use in mind it featured an advanced elevator system for its day – four Otis Autotronic gearless lifts (also used in St. Andrew House on Sauchiehall Street) which were capable of responding to the traffic flow within the building at specific times of the day. The building is electrically heated and was also intended to feature a restaurant on the ground floor which the University later turned into a student refectory.
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