The Herald - The Herald Magazine
OFFERS OVER £185k
COASTAL living is also a key feature for an exceptionally bright and beautifully upgraded apartment in Kelvin Walk, Largs, a popular town in North Ayrshire.
Situated on the second floor within what was originally known as Netherhall House
– a visually striking red sandstone mansion house completed in Scots Baronial style around 1882 for Lord Kelvin of Largs – the benefits of this two-bedroomed apartment include a luxurious refitted breakfasting kitchen, large living/dining room with walk-in circular corner bay window, en suite master bedroom, residents’ parking and extensive communal garden grounds only a short walk from Aubery Park on the town’s esplanade.
Bought by Barratt Homes in 1988 for conversion into nine luxurious apartments, the property’s architectural features, include an imposing entrance hall.
All on one level, the accommodation has a beautifully proportioned living/dining room with a triplewindowed bay. This room has a Scandi-style look that’s echoed in the adjoining kitchen, a dazzling all-white contemporary space with a central island/breakfast bar. Cool, clean and fresh, this kitchen is a deal clincher.
The master bedroom is also extra-special with an impressive window formation and an attractive en-suite shower room. Bedroom two has built-in storage and completing the accommodation is a modern bathroom.
Details from Slater Hogg & Howison’s local office – offers over £185,000 are invited.
TORISPARDON is a brilliantly conceived new house in the highlands of Scotland that nestles snug as a proverbial bug in a rug into a hillside with panoramic views of the Cairngorm mountains and Spey Valley. The low-level house fits harmoniously in its setting – two of its three elements comprise old stone belonging to the site; the third is an uber-contemporary glass and wood section that links the two.
Clearly, this is no ordinary new build but what makes it extra-special is that Torispardon is the result of an unusually close client-architect relationship – of mother and son.
Born and brought up in the east end of Glasgow, Thelma Archer moved to the south of England as as an adult. Meanwhile, her two brothers and her father settled in the Highlands.“We visited frequently over the years and I was always on the look-out for a plot to buy that would allow me to build a home to retire to one day,” she says.
In 2008 the opportunity arose and she obtained part of an old croft on a hillside within the Cairngorms National Park that included a derelict cottage and separate steading – both in a state of complete disrepair. Thelma bought the land and as her son, Stuart, was studying to become an architect she decided to wait until he was in a position to take on the project.
Five years or so later, Staurt and his colleague, Liz Marinko, along with Stuart’s wife, landscape artist Amelia Humber, all moved to the Highlands for two years to design and oversee the build.
The name comes from ‘Tor’ in Gaelic meaning a rock or pile of rocks on the top of a hill.
“The plot had an old cottage and steading. We planned to take them apart and rebuild within the existing footprints,” explains Stuart.
“Being within the Cairngorms National Park, we thought the planners might balk at the concept of a modern, frameless glass section joining the two buildings. That turned out not to be an issue – however, a two-storey steading was flatly ruled out. Our solution was to partially sink the steading into the ground, cutting into the land behind as it rises so it appears to sit in the landscape that surrounds it,” he says.
Simple, yet cleverly considered, the threepart design fulfils everything Thelma wanted: a home that gives her and George, her black Labrador, cosy private quarters within the double-height steading, a lofty space with a vaulted ceiling that provides a sitting area with wood-burner and frameless window over the landscape, mezzanine snug, and ensuite master bedroom and study.
The cottage houses guest accommodation by way of two en-suite double bedrooms; and the link, a contemporary dining kitchen (plus utility and boot room at the rear) is accessed at either end by frameless glass walkways that enable the buildings to interact physically, whilst allowing the three structures to remain visually separate.
“This design enables the guest accommodation to be shut off when not required. The house is sensitive to its origins and context, the traditional vernacular of the cottage and steading echo the footprint and material of the original buildings that were on site, whilst the contemporary timber-clad link is agricultural in form and deliberately
subservient to the adjacent buildings,” says Stuart. The entrance, positioned at the rear of the property within the link, opens to reveal a vast floor-to-ceiling frameless picture window giving an unimpeded view the mountains – a feat made possible by the link’s steel-framed structure.
Using local tradespeople – and wherever possible, materials – was a given from the start, employing local joiners and building contractor AW Laing from Grantown-onSpey. The roofs use reclaimed slate; the larch used for the exterior cladding is indigenous; and all the flooring throughout the three buildings is dark untreated hardwood from a local supplier. “Stuart and I have very similar tastes, therefore there’s nothing here I would change – and I loved his idea of using sliding ‘pocket’ doors to save space. My favourite spot is the corner window in my sitting room, which being frameless, provides a 180-degree view of the Cairngorms,” she adds.
“Glass was a major expense and the frameless glass and sliding doors came from Switzerland but I wanted to incorporate as much light as possible and these Skyframe windows appear non-existent.
“When it came to the kitchen I splurged on an Aga and unpolished granite worktops, but saved money by having the local joiner make the island and all the handle-less units from MDF, which when painted, look phenomenal. The painted plank-style wardrobe doors are all also hand-made from MDF.”
Details in the dining kitchen include an exposed stone steading wall on one side – being partially sunk into the ground it is on a lower level necessitating a set up into the kitchen – and one of Thelma’s daughter-inlaw’s atmospheric paintings.
“Amelia loves wild, untamed places and the Scottish Highlands are the perfect place for her to express her love of the landscape and painting,” says Thelma.
“This is a very special house with views to die for. And for me to work with my son was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience and I’m incredibly proud of him.
“But I’m a Glaswegian at heart and I don’t think I could live here if I couldn’t escape occasionally – I love a bit of city life and then I come back here to unwind. That’s my kind of dual lifestyle,” she laughs.