Living the high life
Shopping tycoon’s villa is just the place to entertain guests
IF anyone knows how to throw a party, it’s Vera Weisfeld. And there’s nowhere better in which to throw it than Veneto Villa. The fashion tycoon behind the What Every Woman Wants store chain enjoys a lavish lifestyle thanks to decades of graft which turned the girl from Lanarkshire into a retail legend. Now aged 78, the lady has lost none of the drive and pizzazz which singled her out among her business peers, male and female.
Often she would be the only woman on the BA flight to London as she ventured up and down Britain in pursuit of building an empire.
Heaven help the dozy bank executive who once mistook her for a ‘wee lassie from Coatbridge’.
The luxury home she is now selling in upmarket Thorntonhall, Lanarkshire, is Vera down to a T– from the giant Versace mirrors downstairs to the cavernous party suite at the very top of the house.
It’s dripping in chandeliers but perhaps it’s best that she avoided a glass ceiling. She’d probably break it.
‘I’ve had a hand in everything in creating this house,’ says Mrs Weisfeld, relaxing on one of the Versace sofas in the living room.
‘It was a shell when I bought it and I’ve turned it into the last word in luxury and comfort.
‘It’s paradise for kids as I’ve designed a couple of the smaller bedrooms just for them. And they can play away on the patio or in the garden all afternoon long.
‘For adults, it offers the ultimate in entertaining. I’ve always been keen to enjoy a good party.’
Gentlemen are encouraged to repair to the Art Deco bar, heavy with inlaid Italian styling reminiscent of Glasgow’s fashionable Rogano restaurant.
Ladies may take in what Mrs Weisfeld calls her ‘disappearing kitchen’ fashioned by Porcelanosa, which conceals all cupboards and top-of-the-range appliances behind gorgeous glossy panels.
Then it’s into the formal lounge to gather before dinner in the dining room or grab a box of popcorn before ascending to Veneto Villa’s first-floor cinema, complete with sumptuous leather seats. After the big movie, if you’re very lucky, you might receive an invitation to the second-floor entertainment suite which runs the length of the property. Images of Tinseltown icons Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, in full Breakfast At Tiffany’s mode, get you in the mood to party. This breathtaking space contains a range of coolers for beers and wines, optics for spirits, a small oven for heating up snacks and a Sonos sound system built into the ceiling. Party central, no question. What Every Woman Wants could easily be used to market the dressing room and bathroom attached to the master bedroom. The sleeping area is huge, as big as the identical formal lounge below. But the addition of a series of separate bespoke wardrobes in a side room creates one of the biggest ‘wows’ in a property that’s dripping with superlatives. Add to that the double Jacuzzi, Sony TV built into the wall and giant walk-in shower and you are talking Hollywood Hills. The first floor also houses four further double bedrooms and a family bathroom. Mrs Weisfeld borrowed the name of her mansion – it’s the region of Italy which boasts Venice as its capital – from a waterside property in London. She says: ‘My husband Gerald and I went to view a house years ago, next to the Thames. ‘The property wasn’t right for us but I really liked the name. It suits this place because of all the Italian and Versace influences I have brought into it. ‘Funnily enough, I think it would suit someone from London who is relocating up here. You couldn’t get a two-bed flat in Chelsea for what I’m offering with Veneto Villa.’ If you don’t feel like a celebrity when you arrive at Vera’s Villa, you certainly do when you leave. She’s got a red carpet at her front door. Offers over £1,395,000 to Alison Anderson of Rettie. Telephone 0141 639 1999 or email alison.anderson@rettie.co.uk