House of mystery
Unlock the door and villa reveals a host of surprises from the past
WHEN Jacqueline Jones-Hunt was putting away the family Christmas tree in the loft one year, she made a poignant discovery in the eaves. It was a World War One nurse’s uniform for a child, complete with the red cross on the front and still in its original cellophane, which crumbled to the touch.
‘It made me wonder why it was there,’ says Mrs Jones-Hunt. ‘Perhaps it was a Christmas present which the parents forgot about.
‘Maybe there was another reason why the child could not receive it.’
In any case, it was not the first time the author of books on near-death experiences had stumbled upon evidence of lives once lived in her detached blonde sandstone villa in Glasgow’s Newlands district.
She recalls: ‘There was the silver cigarette box I found hidden up a chimney.
‘Was it a posh lady from the past, having a secret smoke on the side?
‘Or was it a soldier who never came back from war? Why leave it there, otherwise?’
The Grade C listed villa is now into its third century, having been built in the final years of Queen Victoria’s reign, in 1898.
There is much interest in the roof, which the present owners only know about because they have seen a tour bus stop outside their home on Langside Drive.
It would appear the guide was pointing to the cross-like finials, while making a vague reference to the design guru who once lived in the area, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
There is no concrete evidence that Mackintosh had a hand in the building’s design but he lived a short walk away between 1892 and 1895 when lodging with his stepmother, Margaret Rennie and father, William Mackintosh, at Holmwood in Langside Avenue.
Many of the original features the house was blessed with remain, including the butler’s bells. Even the kitchen has a ceiling rose. Such mansions were built by merchants to show off their wealth, while affording rapid access to their place of business in the city. Even more than 100 years later, the transport links afforded by Langside rail station, less than ten minutes’ walk away, make this a dream address for the commuter. Of course, things change in more than a century. The maid’s bedroom has been converted into a bathroom but it still offers some of the nicest views from the property, over the adjoining bowling green. Things changed there, too, and dwindling membership numbers forced the club to close a few years ago, only to come alive again as an extended playground for an infant school. Mrs Jones-Hunt has lived in the property with her husband, Dr Tony Hunt, for the past 11 years. She says: ‘It is like a castle, a lovely, warm and happy house. ‘People say they pick up a nice, warm energy in it. It’s very private, too.’ Downstairs enjoys a traditional layout, with the two main public rooms sitting either side of the entrance hallway. The kitchen and dining room are at the back, with twin extensions offering the addition of a utility room and another apartment, which could be used as a study or gym (Mrs Jones-Hunt exercises her dogs there on a treadmill). There are four bedrooms on the first floor and a converted loft on the second floor which is advertised as a fifth bedroom but which could be adapted to provide a self-contained apartment. And if you go rooting about in the eaves… you never know what you might find there. Offers over £690,000 to Home Connexions, Glasgow. Tel 0141 212 8686 or email sales.glasgow@ homeconnexions.co.uk