Title: Photograph of Tontine Faces
Date: c 1950s
Reference: FRAS 300
Former reference: HF 1/8/4  
Physical description: 1 print  
Origination:  George Outram & Co Ltd

Additional information:

The Tontine Faces are a collection of stone masks, which were originally the keystone arches of the Tontine Hotel & Coffee Room, Argyle Street, Glasgow. In 1869, the Tontine Hotel was converted into a drapers' shop and the lower arcade that held the Tontine Faces was demolished. The masks were acquired by the Glasgow builder, Peter Shannan, who used them in the new warehouse which he began building for Fraser & McLaren in Buchanan Street in 1872. He added three more masks, carved in a similar style by his sculptor son, Archibald Macfarlane Shannan. The masks remained in place until 1888, when the warehouse was destroyed by fire. One wall, with four masks on it, remained standing, however. The masks were left in place until the 1930s, when they were put on display inside the new Fraser's store. In the mid-1970s, all the masks were collected together by the People's Palace Museum. . From 1995, they have been housed in St Nicholas Garden behind Provand's Lordship in Glasgow.

Record type: Photographs

Function: