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Summary

Description

Circa 1879; extended by Henry Edward Clifford, 1892; subdivided into lower and upper dwellings by Gardner and Thomson, 1939. 2-storey, 4-bay classical villa; off-centre advanced gable with 3-light mullioned and canted window; set on ground rising to NE, garden fronting street. Coursed sandstone ashlar, squared, snecked and tooled sandstone with ashlar margins to rear and side elevations; base course; ashlar margins. Flat arched openings; stone mullioned bipartite and triparitite windows; some projecting cills; bracketted cornice to advanced windows. SW (principal) elevation with moulded and lugged architraves to 1st floor windows; timber brackets to eaves.

SW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 3-light canted bay window to gable, tripartite window above. 3-light canted bay window to right extending to form open porch supported on single column with decorative foliage capital and carved corbels; 2-leaf panelled timber entrance door to small vestibule, later glazed entrance door with rectangular fanlight; tripartite window at 1st floor to right with single light window to left. Bay to left added 1892; slightly advanced tripartite at ground with bipartite window above.

NW ELEVATION: gable to right, timber-framing on moulded brackets to apex. Entrance to centre and left; irregular fenestration; droved ashlar margins.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: 3-light canted bay to left; entrance door and small window opening to right of canted bay. Advanced gable to right with full-height canted bay; bipartite window at ground floor; 4-light window at 1st floor; later harling to apex; return of gable with entrance and coal hatch to right added 1939; tripartite window at 1st floor to left. Later tripartite rectangular dormers.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case windows with horns. Pitched slate roof. Wide corniced ashlar end stacks with decorative octagonal clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR (seen 2011): characterised by plaster ceilings including decorative cornicing to principal rooms and later timber detailing. geometric glazed tiled floor to entrance vestibule and hall. Ground floor lounge with extensive oak mantlepiece to E wall with carved overmantel, enclosing carved side panels with bird detail to base and overhanging bracketted and moulded cornice; corniced oak panelling walls with corniced basket-arched detail to N wall; boarded timber ceiling supported on corbelled timber beams. Timber dog-leg stair to E of plan with turned balusters and carved newels. Former billiard room (now kitchen) with arched braced oak roof and carved arched purlins, segmental arch to bay window recess. Open well timber staircase to attic floor at centre of plan, with canted, columned and corniced timber screen. Panelled timber doors in moulded timber architraves. Later ceiling roses.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALL: squared and snecked low boundary walls with chamfered ashlar cope. Pair of square-plan gatepiers with dentilled pyramidal caps Boundary wall to street, gatepiers with dentilled caps.

Statement of Special Interest

The Knowe is a good example of a classical villa, which has been extended and subdivided, from the late 19th century in Glasgow. The building exhibits good stonework detailing, including canted bays, moulded architraved windows, and a distinctive open porch linking the canted bay to the gable. The building is a characteristic example of the dwellings overlooking Queen's Park.

Queen's Drive bounds the north side of Queen's Park. The park was formerly opened 11 September 1862 to provide open recreation space for the increasing population housed on the south side of Glasgow. The area to the north of the park was developed after the establishment of the park and Queens Drive is first recorded in the 1879-80 Post Office Directory. It is characterised by sandstone tenements to the W and villas to the E. The Knowe was built for Thomas Binnie, a successful property valuator in Glasgow who also advised in the development of the railway systems in and around Glasgow and the extension of the quays and docks on the Clyde.

Circa 1886 the house was sold to James Simpson, Cabinet maker and Upholster. In 1892 the Glasgow based architect HE Clifford prepared drawings for the extension of the house by one bay to the W, and included a parlour, laundry rooms, 2 bedrooms and a billard room at first floor. Henry Edward Clifford was arcticled to the renowned architect John Burnet Senior, before leaving to establish his own practice in 1878. His early work principally consisted of tenements in Glasgow but he also secured some public and commercial commissions including Hyndland Primary School (1885) Pollokshields Burgh Hall (1888) (see separate listings). He achieved national fame in 1901 by winning the Glasgow Royal Infirmary competition but following a difference of opinion between the directors and their assessor Rowand Anderson, the commission was given to James Miller, Clifford securing appointment to the Royal Victoria Infirmary as consolation prize in 1902. His domestic work achieved European recognition with the publication of Stoneleigh, Kelvinside (see separate listing) in Das Englische Haus in 1904-5

In 1936 Albert Victor Gardner and Gavin Thomson prepared plans for the subdivision of the house into 2 dwellings. This included the removal of the central staircase, replaced by cloakroom and the conversion of the first floor billiard room to a kitchen. A new dog leg stair to the W of the plan was also added to provide access to the upper dwelling from the an existing entrance. Their drawings indicate an existing attic floor accessed by an open-well stair with winders. This stair is not indicated on Clifford's drawing although two dormers to the rear are depicted on the elevation drawing, therefore it is unclear when this attic floor was added. The central dormer was added in the late 20th/early 21st century.

(List description updated 2011).

References

Bibliography

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