Old maternity hospital that still delivers
Magnificent mansion combines air of grandeur with a cool vibe
ROBERT Louis Stevenson didn’t hang around Viewforth long enough to wax lyrical about its outstanding qualities. The writer was, after all, only on the premises to attend a doctor’s appointment.
In days gone by, Viewforth served as Bridge of Allan’s GP’s surgery for Dr Haldane and then as its maternity hospital.
RLS travelled frequently to the Stirlingshire town to take advantage of its Victorian spa facilities, such was the fragility of his health.
The present owner of the magnificent mansion probably has more of a link to the property, for he was born there.
Selling agent Jamie Macnab doesn’t hold back when it comes to describing the eightbedroom house. He says: ‘In Bridge of Allan, there are four or five really outstanding houses… and this is one of them.’
So what do you get for your £1.6 million? For a start, the location is second to none. Kenilworth Road is known as a premium address, and a former home to Scotland and Rangers defender Colin Hendry.
One of the benefits of being located on the south side of the road is the views to Stirling Castle and the wider carse.
The house also sits at the top of Lower Westerton Wood, assuring privacy for more than half an acre of mature grounds. Electrically-operated gates conceal the property from the road.
Inside, a cool vibe runs through the house, achieved through the use of beautiful high-end accessories and fittings. There’s Osborne & Little wallpaper, a blue Aga, Chadder & Co bathroom fittings and integrated Siemens appliances.
Mr Macnab adds: ‘The quality of everything is astonishing. The owner has settled for nothing other than a high-end finish.’
Accommodation is on three floors, beginning with the functional apartments on the lower ground. These include a giant
playroom for the children, garden room leading to a sunken garden, wine cellar, gym, laundry room and two bedrooms. The ground-floor rooms are notable for their scale – the double bay-windowed sitting room is 20ft by 20ft. Add to that the study, spacious family room, dining room and kitchen and you have a sumptuous living space.
The air of grandeur is underlined by the curved staircase sweeping up from the main entrance hall to the first-floor landing. It contains beautiful decorative balustrades and banisters, enhanced by a large stained glass window at the halfway point.
Viewforth’s symmetrical nature means the bedrooms mimic the dimensions of the rooms below, so the master bedroom is the same 20ft by 20ft as the sitting room.
With space scarcely at a premium, the owners have put it to good use by creating an ensuite shower room and separate dressing room. It has a gas fireplace, with decorative marble mantelpiece, and the original cornicing.
Large as it is, there’s still enough room for five other bedrooms on the first floor, one of which is used as a nursery.
Given that by now you are some distance from the laundry room on the lower ground floor, it must be comforting to know that, when it comes to changing the beds, you can jettison the bedding down a laundry chute to the basement.
Viewforth today does what it has always done, especially when it was a maternity hospital. It delivers.
Offers over £1.6 million to Jamie Macnab of Savills. Tel 0131 247 3738 or email jmacnab@savills.com