The finest example of residential architecture in the south side of Glasgow is undoubtedly Alexander Thomson's Holmwood House in Cathcart, which has a dedicated page in this website.
Engraving of Holmwood House, Cathcart
The houses on the south side of Glasgow map the progress of the ever expanding city from the old inner city areas like Gorbals and Govanhill in the nineteenth century, to the outlying housing schemes such as Castlemilk and Toryglen which were created in the second half of the twentieth century.
Villa at Clarkston Road, Cathcart
Tenements at Brownlie Street, Mount Florida
The traditional Glasgow tenements, which were built in the period from 1880 to 1914, can be seen throughout the area.
The complete 1913-14 Valuation Roll showing the occupiers of houses in the city has been digitised as part of the "Glasgow Story" project.
The inter-war bungalows built by McTaggart & Mickel were the last speculatively built sandstone fronted houses in Cathcart. These were built as late as the 1930's, before brick with a roughcast finish became the norm for house construction. Sandstone fronted bungalow at Cathcart
The roughcast finish shown below is more typical of what you would see in the slightly later bungalows to be found in Kings Park and Muirend.
Roughcast finished bungalow built by McTaggart & Mickel
Some of the oldest villas on the Circle line can be found between Crosshill and Queens Park stations, where the housing plots were mostly developed in the 1870's and 1880's, pre-dating the Pollokshields, Newlands and Cathcart houses.
Villas at Crosshill
The Cathcart Circle Railway line was the impetus for the creation of wealthy new suburbs with large stone houses and extensive gardens, which were developed around 1900.
Passengers travelling on the Inner Circle from Glasgow Central will pass through the affluent neighbourhoods surrounding the stations at Pollokshields West, Maxwell Park and Langside & Newlands before the train reaches Cathcart.
Villa at Pollokshields
To view the largest & grandest villas in Glasgow, you should take the train to Maxwell Park Station and visit "the Avenues" off St Andrews Drive. You could not fail to be impressed with the detached villas in Sherbrooke, Springkell, Sutherland and Hamilton Avenues, which all run into Maxwell Park. There are many other large houses scattered throughout Pollokshields, but not as grand as those in "the Avenues"
Detached Villa in Pollokshields
Many of the villas in Pollokshields show unique design touches.
The houses in this area were not mass produced as the tenements and terraced houses in nearby areas were.
Even some of the larger houses were however built to a few popular designs with small variations to make them appear original. 'Southwold', Sherbrooke Avenue, Pollokshields
Villa at Pollokshields
The main differences in house style between Pollokshields and those built later houses in Newlands was of scale and attachment. The large houses of Pollokshields are mostly detached, while those in Newlands are more likely to be semi-detached and situated in smaller plots.
Semi - detached Villa at Newlands
Drawing of Alexander "Greek" Thomson's home at 1 Moray Place, near Pollokshields West Station
Tracing the origins of the earliest blocks can be difficult as in many cases the street names came later than the buildings.
The tenement illustrated above is part of a development originally known as Randolph Terrace which was erected by Alexander Brownlie in 1886. The disposition refers to the property as being in the "Parish of Cathcart in the County of Renfrew". In 1893, after further development of the surrounding area, Randolph Terrace was renumbered from the new streets which it now fronted. The part of the street shown above, known as 10 Randolph Terrace in 1886, became 25-27 Brownlie Street in 1893. The Brownlie connection remained 100 years later, with some of the flats still in the ownership of the Brownlie family.
The Glasgow Herald on 1st March 1886, the day the Cathcart District Railway opened, advertised for sale by public roup "Three tenements of dwelling houses at Randoph Place, Mount Florida". It went on to state that "The opening of the new railway is creating an increased demand for houses in the locality".
Maps of all 36 electoral wards have also been digitised to help identify streets which may have had their names changed.
The house below is typical of the bungalows in Carmunnock Road and the streets leading off it, not far from Cathcart Old Parish Church.
The houses around Maxwell Park were richly embellished, like the one above, which features a circular turret added
to the front public room and an individually designed porch to the side entrance.
The rear of this house has small rooms upstairs which were originally intended as servants quarters.
It is very similar to 'Southwold', a detached villa in Sherbrooke Avenue. shown below.
