Apollo wrote:The interesting bit is the carving around the entrance, which extends from the actual door to include the small window to the side, and is repeated on each entrance. Decorative only, or did it have a function in the original building?
Probably the finest tenement in Shettleston there, and nick-named "The Honeymoon Block". The carving seems to me a purely decorative element to tie the window in with the door piece (something not un-common in tenements). However, as you probably know, such decorative elements do have thier origins in the more functional aspects of architecture, which in this case is to deflects rainwater away from inlets in the masonry (doors and windows).
Crusty