A real star attraction
Live like a leading man (or lady) in grand home used for top TV shoots
HAZLIEBRAE was a suburban star long before the procession of celebrities who would later cross its threshold. The detached B-Listed villa was one of three ‘show’ homes erected in a row in the douce Glasgow district of Pollokshields to demonstrate a new wave of dramatic domestic design.
Now revered as The Three Sisters, they have been likened to a ‘row of castles’ as the trio celebrate the Scots baronial style, dropped into an urban setting.
To fully appreciate what was going on around the time of their appearance, you have to examine the Glasgow of the late 19th Century.
Pollokshields emerged from extensive farmlands owned by the Stirling Maxwell family, proprietors of Pollok House.
The family envisaged a verdant urban utopia, with 400 grand villas gracing wide boulevards enhanced by bountiful lawns and shrubs; a ‘garden city’ if you like.
The leading business figures of the day competed shamelessly to secure the very best design in ‘The Avenues’ and for that, the top architects of the day were required.
While Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh were credited with certain commissions, the identity of the man behind Hazliebrae has been left to guess-work.
It’s thought the 1886 design for a fivebedroom villa belongs to the style of W.F. MacGibbon, who had a similar mansion built for himself a year later nearby and who designed the wondrous St Gilbert’s Church a few streets away.
According to the Pollokshields Heritage Trust, Hazliebrae, in Dalziel Drive, was built for the successful Victorian stockbroker J.B. Slimmon. For the last quarter of a century, it has been home to Fiona and Alan Stewart, who now need to downsize as most of the children have flown the nest.
‘It has been everything we had hoped,’ said Mrs Stewart. ‘It has offered plenty of room to grow and develop.
‘The fact it is at the end of a cul-de-sac helps as well, as there has never been an issue with through-traffic.
‘We have hosted countless children’s parties here and, of course, Alan and I have entertained here as well.’
And what a place to entertain in. The stone mansion’s front door – which has one of those brass pull-bells – opens into a spacious woodlined reception hall. There’s even a small fireplace as you enter, capable of providing guests with a warm welcome.
The exterior design, with baronial ‘turret’ topped by a ‘candle snuffer’ creates an unusual lay-out to the apartments below. In the main living room and master bedroom, this results in an oriel window from where you can comfortably survey the local neighbourhood.
What once would have been the library – all wood panelling, original radiators and cosy fire – is now used by the family as an informal sitting room. The dining room is, again, panelled, this time to waist-height, allowing the wood-surround fireplace to stand out from the crowd.
However, the top artistic flourish in the property has to be the intricately-carved and curved staircase, which transforms the task of going up to bed into a nocturnal ascending adventure.
It’s a dramatic sweep which has captured the imagination of television producers, who have brought all manner of stars here for filming.
They include David Tennant, while he was starring in the BBC production Single Father with Suranne Jones. Jason Donovan danced in a kilt in the hall, without his Technicolor dreamcoat, and no self-respecting Pollokshields villa would be complete without a character part in Taggart.
Recalled Mrs Stewart: ‘David Tennant was nice. My house was used to replicate his mother-in-law’s kitchen in Single Father. Some of my neighbours popped by during filming, just to see him at close quarters.’
He may have gone on to star in Doctor Who, but actor Tennant should remember that in this part of West Pollokshields, the house is the star.