A Greek Tragedy

[viceroy]

Just been reading that the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel in Dumbreck is a Thomson design:

In 1896 John Morrison, a respected contractor of the time, built a baronial villa for himself in Pollokshields, namely, Sherbrooke Castle, designed by Alexander “Greek” Thomson.The house became a hotel just before World War II, during which time it was commissioned by the Royal Navy and was used as a Radar training centre by Naval officers. It returned to a hotel in 1945 and it’s high square tower is one of the best known local landmarks. It is also one of the only properties in the area to have the original iron railings surrounding the grounds.

Where did you read that HH? Sherbrooke Castle Hotel has a kind of Scots Baronial design and doesn't look like anything that Alexander Thomson might have been responsible for. In fact, according the the Glasgow Edition of The Buildings of Scotland it was designed by John Thomson (of Thomson & Sandilands), not Alexander Thomson.

[HollowHorn]

Yes, I was a tad surprised that I'd not heard of it before. The info comes from their own site:

http://www.sherbrookecastlehotel.com/about/history/

[dazza]

DoSA attributes it to the architectural practice of John Thomson & Robert Douglas Sandilands.

[Lucky Poet]

It would be nice if it was true, but aye they seem to be getting their Thomsons mixed up. I see their website states 1896, which looks about right for the building, though our man died in 1875.

(Having said that, Mackintosh was gone sixy-odd years before the House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park was built, but nah, it shurely ain't him.)