Built in 1857, as the Free Church College, by architect Charles Wilson (1810-63), Trinity College lies on Lynedoch Street near Park Circus in the West End of Glasgow. The A-listed building is one of the most prominent of the area due to its three massive towers. These square Italianate towers comprise two smaller towers to the east and a larger tower to the west, which exceeds 50m (164 feet) in height and is around 7.5m (24 feet) wide. Following the union of the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church in 1900, the College became known as the Glasgow College of the United Free Church of Scotland. The adjacent church was destroyed by fire in 1903 but rebuilt and incorporated into the College as its library. It became Trinity College when the United Free Church merged with the established Church of Scotland in 1929.
The College itself merged with the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Glasgow in 1935, and classes in this building ceased in 1973 and the building was sold. It was subsequently been converted into flats (1985-86) and, although most of the interior was lost, a fine stained-glass window remains, a memorial to Professors Robert Candlish (1806-73) and Henry Drummond (1851-97).
During high winds in January 2022, the flats were evacuated after concern that the western tower might collapse. Long-term structural weaknesses in this tower had been subject to continuous monitoring for several years.
