Lansdowne Church, 416, Great Western Road, West End

T-plan early English apsidal church with tower and spire at SE. Coursed rubble with polished ashlar margins; slate roofs. West front: angle buttresses rising to columned pinnacles. Elaborate pointed arch porch with dog-tooth moulding: deeply recessed paired doors under moulded pointed arch supported on nook shafts of polished granite, with stiff leaf ashlar capitals. Porch flanked by deep buttresses with blind arcading continuing across to gabletted angle buttresses, gablet with roundel above arcading between buttresses. Stepped triple lancet above. Low pseudo-aisles, also butressed and with columned pinnacles. Transepts with 3 lancet windows over blind arcade. Tower in 3 stages: 1st stage buttressed with tripartite window over door; 2nd with 2-light louvered openings. 3rd stage more elaborate: plate tracery windows with gables, rising into spire; octagonal piers rise to pinnacles at angles. Tall very slender spire with niches and band of diaper work midway. Church surrounded by low ashlar wall with decorative cast-iron railings; intermediate gabled ashlar piers and gatepiers. (Historic Scotland)

November 2010: External inspection finds church outwardly in good condition. The roof requires minor repairs. The porch roof is damp. Church website notes that the church and associated halls remains open. The congregation is likely to merge with another, at a different location, but not until late 2011. A repair and re-use plan for Landsdowne is understood to have secured planning permission, but failed to gain Heritage Lottery Funding. Alternative funding sources being investigated. Set to ALERT at this time.

30 May 2012: Friends of Glasgow West advises the most recent application for funding through the Four Acres Charitable Trust to the Scottish Investment Fund has failed to secure a grant. The congregation and the Trust continue to work to secure the future of the building. Dry rot is advised as remaining an issue, repairs are needed to the ceilings and to masonry.

15 April 2013: Glasgow Evening Times reports the Four Acres Charitable Trust is developing a theatre within the church. Initially a temporary set up to allow events to run in May and June. The Trust also plans to open a bistro on the basement area of the building.

24 January 2014: External inspection finds the church now vacant, the congregation having merged with Kelvin Stevenson church. Damp appears to be setting into the stonework and lichen/ moss growth is spreading. The building appears to be secure. The Four Acres Trust continues to work towards conversion of the building to form a theatre/ community facility and a repository for Daniel Cottier stained glass. Moved to At Risk.

30 January 2015: Local planners report a crowdfunding campaign has begun towards the restoration and re-use of the former church as Webster's Theatre - atheatre, community hall and bar.

14 July 2015: Local planners advise the building is in partial occupancy as a theatre and community facility.

13 December 2019: The building is in use as a theatre, bar and restaurant. Long-term restoration plans continue to progress.

20 April 2023: External inspection confirms that part of the site is in use as a bar and entertainment venue. The hall to the east houses Webster's and outdoor seating is set up within the boundary along Great Western Road and is not At Risk. The main church building appears to remain in similar condition to previous assessments with some areas of possible damp in the external stonework. It is unclear how much of the main church is in use or how far advanced internal restoration works are. There are no signs of current works at the time of visit. Remain at Risk.

According to the website for Webster's, there is ambition to carry out full restoration works to the church and to improve accessibility for the continued use as a venue.