Florentine House, 53 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, Hillhead, Glasgow

Entry Name: Florentine House, 53 Hillhead Street, Glasgow

Listing Name: University of Glasgow, Gilmorehill Campus Building E4, 53 Hillhead Street, Florentine House Including Gatepiers and Boundary Walls

Listing Date: 22 March 1977

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 375974

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB32878

Building Class: Cultural

Also known as: 53 Hillhead Street, Florentine House

ID on this website: 200375974

Location: Glasgow

County: Glasgow

Town: Glasgow

Electoral Ward: Hillhead

Traditional County: Lanarkshire

Tagged with: Building

Description

Circa 1828. 2-storey, 3-bay classical villa. Polished ashlar. Central Doric doorpiece at head of short flight of steps, cornice blocking course.

Sash and case windows in architraves, mainly 12-pane glazing. Rubble rear and side elevations with ashlar quoins. Semi-extruded stairwell. Corniced end stacks.

INTERIOR: cast-iron balusters to stone staircase.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: fluted, capped gatepiers.

Statement of Interest

Florentine house is one of the few surviving early villas of the area, and of a type which would have once characterised this formerly residential area. The villa was constructed for Robert Watt, a Glasgow ironmonger and exhibits good architectural detailing, with a prominent Doric doorpiece and massing. The house also retains its boundary walls and a pair of particularly fine ashlar gatepiers with fluted shafts, which are on axis with the main entrance. The bold rectangular profile of the villa, set back from the street also makes a significant contribution to the streetscape of the area.

The 1858 Ordnance Survey Town Plan shows Florentine House set in a large garden extending between Hillhead Street and Southpark Street. The garden contained 3 summerhouses and a 'vase'. The house was the smallest of a number of villas in the area including Hillhead House, Gilmorehill House, Oakfield House, Lilybank House, Saughfield House and Southpark House, several of which were demolished for more intensive developments of terraced townhouses, tenements and University buildings.

Formerly listed as '53 Hillhead Street, Florentine House'. Also known as 'Florentine Bank House'.

List description updated as part of review of the University of Glasgow Hillhead Campus, 2011. The building number is derived from the University of Glasgow Main Campus Map (2007), as published on the University's website www.gla.ac.uk.

External Links

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