A MACKINTOSH MASTERPIECE... FOR £750,000!
IT’S not every day that a home with links to Charles Rennie Mackintosh is available at a knock-down price.
But this Scottish Baronial mansion is on the market for only £750,000 – a reduction from more than £1million in 2012.
Set in two acres of gardens, Achamore House on the island of Gigha in Argyll has eight public rooms, 14 bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
The original early 17th century building was remodelled and extended by architect John Honeyman for the Laird of Gigha, Captain WJ Scarlett, in the early 1880s.
After a devastating fire in 1896, in which only the interior of the billiards room survived, Honeyman’s firm took on the renovation work.
Stylistic evidence suggests Mackintosh, one of his employees, may have worked on the interiors, particularly in the drawing room.
Selling agent Savills’ brochure says: ‘There is strong evidence Mackintosh himself worked on Achamore House. He and a colleague in the firm, James McNair, are known to have travelled to Gigha to supervise work.
‘Several features in the house support Mackintosh’s involvement. Most notably, his signature design of the Scottish thistle with the whiplash neck appears in the drawing room.’
A ground-floor plan of Achamore House dated 1903, which appears to be in Mackintosh’s hand, is now in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University.
Subsequent owners have included Baronet James Horlick, co-founder of the famous hot bedtime drink company.
Achamore House was visited by the Queen in 2007, when she landed on Gigha during her 80th birthday cruise.
It has been operated as a B&B in recent years.
Caroleanne Gallagher of Savills said: ‘The sale of Achamore House offers a wonderful opportunity to join an island community, without extreme isolation.’