Living up to a legacy of luxury
Hospital buildings have been transformed into high-end flats
WHEN it opened at the dawn of the 1970s, the hospital unit was considered so luxurious locals dubbed it ‘The Hilton of Langside’. The annexe to Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary was positioned among a promenade of handsome detached Victorian villas on the city’s South Side.
It was also rare in that it required the personal approval of Prime Minister Harold Wilson before the expenditure could be agreed.
For four decades, the elegantly titled Mansionhouse Unit provided specialist care for thousands of geriatric patients admitted to the Victoria.
But with the advent of the £1 billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan, the unit was declared surplus to requirements and ‘decommissioned’ in 2015.
The unique construction of the building meant Mansionhouse could not be adapted for future use and its demolition has now been completed. How appropriate, therefore, that when it came to replacing the upmarket facility, it is a luxury housebuilder which has come up with the goods.
Falkirk-based Cala Homes (West), a company more associated with top-end executive villas, will build 101 flats likely to prove popular with young professionals and ‘downsizers’. The flats will be contained in three tenement-style blocks, set among communal landscaped gardens.
Although construction work is yet to begin, nine of the 13 released in the first block, Weavers Court, are already reserved.
A one-bedroom flat is available at £158,000. Considering this is a Cala flat pitched at the average price of a home in Scotland, this has to be excellent value for money.
All the properties will have access to lifts, a secure entry system, stylish kitchens by ALNO with high-quality Bosch appliances and a Hansgrohe single mixer tap.
Cala has plundered the area’s architectural heritage for the names of some of the apartments. The £259,000 Plot 58 penthouse is called The Mackintosh, no doubt in honour of the great Charles Rennie, who once lived just a few streets away.
A three-bedroom apartment on the first floor is called The Holmwood, after the Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson masterpiece only a mile or so distant in Cathcart.
Canny purchasers with a sense of geography will doubtless snap up the most elevated apartments, due to the wonderful panoramas they should offer. On one side of the development, the hills of the West Coast will be visible. Flats on the other side will have views to the south and east.
LIANA Canavan, sales and marketing director of Cala Homes (West) said: ‘21 Mansionhouse Road is a landmark development for us in the city for 2017. With breathtaking views over Glasgow and its proximity to a host of local amenities, this development offers city living at its very best. With Queen’s Park just a few minutes’ walk, green open space is never far away.’
In the late 1960s, Prime Minister Wilson put a brake on public spending, which would have halted the Mansionhouse Unit. But local Tory MP Teddy Taylor teamed up with Labour’s Barbara Castle to lobby No 10. It worked, and Mr Wilson gave the green light to overhaul geriatric services in Glasgow.
With downsizers among the new occupiers at Mansionhouse Road, it is somehow fitting that a location identified with the city’s elderly population will once more provide homes to those in the autumn of their years.
Prices range from £158,000 to £352,000. Contact Carol Mackie of Savills on 0141 248 7342 or email cmackie@savills.com. You can also view the development online at www.21mansionhouseroad.co.uk.