The remarkable past lives of this Glasgow cocktail bar

This Glasgow building has been a home, a bank, a court, and now a club and restaurant, The Corinthian, but it has remained virtually unchanged since the 19th century.

Long before it served cocktails in the late-night piano bar and hosted fashion shows in the private rooms, 191 Ingram Street was a house known as Virginia Mansion.

(Image: Jamie Simpson)

It was one of the city’s first and grandest private residences which was commissioned by the Glasgow tobacco merchant George Buchanan and completed in 1752.

The mansion passed through several other merchants until it was bought and completely remodelled in the 1870s to serve as the headquarters of the Glasgow and Ship Bank, which later merged with the Union Bank of Scotland.

The building when it was a bank (Image: Newsquest archive) Many more elaborate changes were made to the bank during its time, such as the introduction of a large new telling room with a glass cupola and a new entrance from Virginia Place.

With its high ceilings, towering pillars and Gringotts-like polished desks, the bank served the people of Glasgow with all their monetary needs until the 1920s when it relocated.

So, what came next for this opulent palace with so many lives?

Tellers in the bank (Image: Newsquest archive) What is quite rare and special about 191 Ingram Street is not that it was a bank in a such a grand, classical building, but that it was adapted from a bank to offices, then to court and finally to a casino, bar, restaurant and club.

It became used as a county council headquarters in the 1930s for Lanarkshire, thus giving it the name Lanarkshire House for a brief time. But the former bullion store was converted so it could be used for sheriff court hearings.

When the council moved out in 1964, the building continued to be used as an overflow for the court and even held High Court trials.

(Image: Newsquest archive) The courts moved out and in the late 1990s, the building was restored and turned into the private members club, The Corinthian Club.

What was once the large telling room in the bank became the Tellers Bar and Brasserie, where diners can enjoy a meal, a cocktail and gaze upon the large hemisphere cupola above them, as it was almost 200 years ago.

Meanwhile, the former bullion store and courtroom became a casino, which has since closed.

(Image: Newsquest archive) Perhaps lending to the inspiration for the name is the traditional 'Corinthian' pilasters, which dominate the stunning architecture and make you feel as if you are stepping into the Roman empire.

What is also quite remarkable about this mansion is that despite the many changes in use over the decades and centuries, its overall appearance has barely changed.

(Image: Newsquest archive)

While some additions and tweaks have been made by various designers, ordnance maps show its basic footprint has remained the same since the 1870s.

The Corinthian’s everlasting classical architecture has always been appreciated as a perfect representation for a bank, court and now a nightlife hub.