Description

Robert Alexander Bryden, circa 1884. 2-storey, irregular-plan, villa in Tudor-Gothic style positioned at S of village adjacent to main thoroughfare. Squared and snecked pale sandstone ashlar with polished dressings. Splayed rubble base course; moulded string course; dentilled and bargeboarded eaves; half-timbering to some gable apexes; round-arched hoodmoulded 1st floor openings. Advanced pyramidal-capped square entrance tower to E. Curved steps rising to corniced doorpiece, projecting name plaque with ornate foliage surround above, single round-arched window at 1st floor; flanking ground floor windows; canted bay to right returning at N elevation. N elevation: advanced wide 3-light canted bay, gabled and round-arched breaking eaves dormer to left; further irregular bays receding to right with single storey service entrance and wing to far right. S elevation: advanced gable to right; large quadripartite canted bay to left with pierced stone parapet; breaking eaves dormer with round-arched hood moulding above. Single storey wing to far left with advanced gable to centre; tripartite round-arched windows with linked hoodmouldings; 3 narrow windows to right of gable.

Piended roofs; grey Scottish slate; terracotta ridge cresting; ornamental clay cans; cast iron finials; cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: some etched glass remaining in windows and doors.

Statement of Interest

Number 14 is a good example of one of the larger villa homes within the village, with well-balanced proportions principal elevation and quality of detailing throughout.

This purpose built village was founded by philanthropist William Quarrier in 1877 to accommodate orphaned and destitute children. He had operated orphanages in Glasgow since the early 1870s and was opposed to the institutional nature of the city poorhouses. 50 or so 'cottage homes' were built between 1877 and 1910 on the 10 acre site of Nittingshill Farm, bought at auction for £3560. Each employed a housemother who would look after groups of children in more familial and healthier environment than that of Glasgow's East End. The village also had its own school, church, post office, dairy, poultry farm, fire station, and workshops where the children were trained to a trade. Robert Alexander Bryden was responsible for designing all the buildings on the site in association with Andrew Robertson, with each villa built to an individual specification. The Free Revivalist style, making use of Baronial, Gothic and Tudor influences, is thought to have been inspired by the work of W E Nesfield and Richard Norman Shaw who pioneered the Garden Village movement in England.

The village as a whole is significant historically in terms of education and development of children in care, and remains generally well preserved with only a few of the buildings having been altered or extended. The historic core of the village has held Conservation Area status since 1985.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779222

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  For the Record