Timeless elegance
Edwardian townhouse teams modern comfort with period charm
THERE is one thing you can say about style – it never goes out of fashion. And King’s Gate makes as much of an impression today as it must have done when it was fresh off the architect’s drawing board back in 1908.
With dark wood panelling, elegant fireplaces and ornate stained glass windows, this would have been the home of a top city business figure.
The first owner of this impressive property, in the popular Dowanhill area of Glasgow’s West End, was ‘wine and spirit merchant’ Hugh Tennent.
His home has endured so well down the years that any tycoon would be proud to take the keys.
The current owners did not sit back and simply admire the finer aspects of their home, magnificent as it is. They have ensured King’s Gate moved with the times.
A CCTV network has been added, as has a centralised vacuuming system, high-speed internet and two platform lifts serving all four floors. The entire roof was replaced last year.
It means that while this handsome, red sandstone terraced villa retains all the period charm of the Edwardian era, it also offers the comforts of modern living.
Its architect, David Barclay, was hugely successful towards the end of the 19th Century and was the president of the Glasgow Institute of Architects.
However, in 1896 he lost out to Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the contest to design the Glasgow School of Art. Two of Mackintosh’s original glass panels can be found within King’s Gate.
Such luxury residences are where Barclay excelled, whether it was mansion flats or grand red sandstone villas. The Pevsner guide, The Buildings of Scotland, even describes King’s Gate as ‘the grandest to be found… in the east part of Dowanside’.
Many of the rooms retain lovely original fireplaces but perhaps the most welcome is the Art Nouveau treasure in green tiles which is near the front door. You can imagine the owners’ horror when they found two of their Art Nouveau wall lamps lying in the skip while builders were in.
The rooms are vast. The dining room, which has full-height windows with stained glass, resembles a small hospitality suite in the City Chambers, while the kitchen, fitted by Cameron Interiors, sports built-in solid oak from Miele.
If the ground floor is where all the formality takes place and the five bedrooms are located on the first floor, then the second floor is where the fun begins.
The full-sized billiard room has a table with a traditional light above it and wood panelling on the walls, plus a stunning cupola by George Walton. Up here you will also find a bar, spa and a sauna.
Yet for all the leisure accessories, it is the four off-street parking spaces in this congested part of town which are most highly valued – those and the relaxing views of Willow Bank Bowling Club across the road. Tennents, anyone?