Princes Square
Princes Square is a shopping centre on Buchanan Street in central Glasgow, Scotland. It was first designed and built in the 1840s by John Baird and other architects. It was developed in 1986 to a design by Edinburgh architects, the Hugh Martin Partnership. The new five-storey, 10,450-square-metre (112,500 sq ft) retail centre occupies a pre-existing cobbled square dating from 1841, which was reconfigured by enclosing the entire space below a new clear glass domed and vaulted roof. An expansion was completed in summer 1999, extending the centre into Springfield Court and providing a further 1,860 square metres (20,000 sq ft) of retail area and a new retail frontage to Queen Street.
The original cellars of the existing buildings were excavated to provide additional space. Inside the square, new galleries and stairs give access to the upper storeys. The original sandstone facades were preserved around the modern interior. The centre is adorned with decorative glass, tiling, lighting, timber and metalwork, designed by artists and craftsmen.