PEELING BACK THE LAYERS

A property regarded as some of the finest residential work by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson has reopened to the public. Holmwood House in Cathcart, Glasgow, has been closed to the public for three months, to allow the recreations of the property’s original stencilled paint schemes. Completed in 1858, the house was created for paper magnate James Couper. The National Trust for Scotland took ownership of the building in 1994 and during the course of renovation, discovered Thomson’s original decorations surviving intact under layers of wallpaper and paint, which had been applied over the years by the house’s former owners. These highly colourful and intricate stencilled walls are rare examples of Thomson’s interior design schemes.