THE historic Union Corner dome, adjacent to Glasgow Central Station, collapsed in an intense fire last night after standing for 175 years.
Known as Union Corner, the B‑listed block which stood at 101–115 Union Street and 59–69 Gordon Street, succumbed to the flames on Sunday night after a fire started in a vape shop earlier that afternoon.
An MSP compared the damage to the devastation from “the Blitz”. Nearby hotels were evacuated and roads were sealed off. On Monday morning, fire crews used aerial platforms to hose water from the River Clyde onto what remained of the building, as smoke hung in the air.
We take a look back at the building and its place in Glasgow's history.
One of the last surviving pre‑railway buildings
The building on Union Street was completed around 1851, almost three decades before Central station opened in 1879, making it one of the last surviving pre‑railway buildings on that stretch.
Designed by James Brown of Brown & Carrick, it was erected for Francis Orr & Sons, a prominent Glasgow stationer and publisher and operated as as a commercial address during the mid‑19th‑century.
READ MORE: Full list of businesses affected by Glasgow city centre blaze
Until last night, the B-listed building was an astylar classical commercial tenement: four storeys and attic over modernised ground‑floor shops, with a 12‑bay Union Street frontage and five bays to Gordon Street wrapped by a recessed, curved corner.
The elevations were polished ashlar with long‑and‑short quoins, progressively enriched window surrounds, and a strong deep‑bracketed cornice and panelled parapet.
Through the 20th century it remained a commercial block with changing tenants.
For years the rooftop carried big commercial signage – an Irn‑Bru advert and a red neon Bell’s whisky sign on the corner dome – which made it a familiar visual marker in the cityscape even if people didn’t know its name.
On the ground floor, recent businesses included the Blue Lagoon fish and chip shop and Sexy Coffee, with a vape shop also trading there and now reported as the likely source of the 2026 blaze.
Historical significance
Designer Brown worked in partnership with John Carrick in the firm Brown & Carrick; Carrick later became Glasgow’s City Architect and was central to the City Improvement Trust schemes that reshaped much of the Victorian centre.
Union Corner is considered an early piece in that improvement journey, evolving from the edge of old Grahamston into part of the dense grid around Central.
Can the Union Street building be saved?
While it is too early to tell, drone footage shows significant damage with the dome and other sections of the building having caved in and collapsed.
Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said there are now concerns for the viability of the remainder of the building.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: “There’s the cafe, there’s the Blue Lagoon (chip shop), of course, which is famous for many Glaswegians.
“It’s been completely wiped out, destroyed. I mean the building is a gutted shell. It looks like something out of the Blitz.
“I spoke to building control officers last night on site. They don’t have much hope that the building can be saved at all.
“We wait and see what their final decisions are, but it sounds like the remaining facade onto Gordon Street is likely to have to come down, unfortunately.”
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In response to the fire, a spokesperson from Historic Environment Scotland said: "We are aware of the significant fire at 101-115 Union Street, a category B-listed building that dated to 1851 and was built for the stationers Francis Orr & Sons.
"We are sorry to hear this news and will be available to offer advice about the listed building to the local authority."
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