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998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:01 pm
by City Kitty
I have walked past this building a few times and I always wonder about it. It's across the road and down a bit from One Devonshire Gardens and it seems to be in disrepair - there are boards at some of the windows, what looks like chairs piled up inside, and the garden is in a mess. However, sometimes I see lights on inside and at the back of the building sometimes there are red lights.

Does anyone know anything about it? I always wonder if it is some kind of dungeon or brothel.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:50 pm
by viceroy
All I know about this building is that it dates from 1877 and was built for James Marshall who ran the Saracen Iron Foundry. Latterly it was the St. Mungo's Academy Centenary Club. I walked past it a while ago and was also struck by the state it was in. Part of it did seem to be occupied, presumably as offices or something like that. I don't know who now owns it or what plans, if any, are afoot to restore it to its original state. The interior is supposed to be quite spectacular as well.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:24 pm
by red_kola
The property was named Carlston when built in 1877.

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TheGlasgowStory adds this detail on its (former? <edit> Confirmed former - see below</edit>) conservatory:
Walter Macfarlane & Co built the cast iron conservatory at Carlston, a private house in Kelvinside, shown in this photograph c.1910. A feature of the conservatory is the curved "fish-scale" glazing. The delicate iron frames held tiny panes of flat glass in tiers at slightly differing angles to give a wonderfully scintillating effect in the sunlight....
As well as the ironwork, Macfarlane's made glass at the firm's Saracen Foundry in Possilpark.

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It would appear to house a company called "G1 Clubs Ltd", which is actually registered as a Property & Estate Management company established as a private limited company in 2001. It has 0 employees.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:04 pm
by Dexter St. Clair
There's a long and involved story which pops up now and again but the owner was a member of the St. Mungo's Academy FP club and took it over on the basis that he would turn it into a successful club. Beyond that I'm disinclined to comment in print.

When's the next HG night out?

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:13 pm
by City Kitty
No! What a tease! Are my suspicions relevant?

Here are a couple of blurry pics I took recently:

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Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:05 pm
by Dexter St. Clair
This guy owned it A.E. Pickard

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:06 pm
by HollowHorn
Dexter St. Clair wrote:When's the next HG night out?

Arf. Interesting stuff re Pickard.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:29 am
by Grahame
I'm pretty sure that a couple of interior scenes for 'House of Mirth' were shot in there.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:06 pm
by dazza
June 2004: Local Authority survey finds the building to be lying empty and unmaintained.
September 2007: Building brought to the attention of SCT by Glasgow City Council. External inspection suggests that the building is in sound condition although it would appear to have been unmaintained for some years. Some of the windows to the rear have been boarded up.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:27 pm
by City Kitty
There are always cars at the garage and a big white van outside. And the grass had been cut today!

Clearer pictures from today:

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Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:42 pm
by HollowHorn
That is one beautiful building.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:48 pm
by Socceroo
HollowHorn wrote:That is one beautiful building.


I was just thinking that myself. Is that where AE Pickard lived. Or was it just one of the many buildings he owned? Anyone?

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:53 am
by Dexter St. Clair
He kept his motors there and where else would one live apart from the West End?

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:01 am
by Toaster
red_kola wrote:It would appear to house a company called "G1 Clubs Ltd", which is actually registered as a Property & Estate Management company established as a private limited company in 2001. It has 0 employees.

Presumably part of Stefan King's G1 Group empire. Hmmm...wonder if he's heading for round 2 with the locals.

Re: 998 Great Western Road

PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:43 pm
by nodrog
It's Category A listed:

HS has this to say about the interior (although this would have been when it was listed in 1970; may be different now!)

Interior: very elaborate; hall with polychrome marbled Corinthian columns, imperial stair with carved timber term newel posts and delicate cast-iron balusters. Decorative plaster cornices and ceiling work throughout. Good panelling to most rooms. Rich door cases and window surrounds. Good leaded coloured glass.


http://hsewsf.sedsh.gov.uk/hslive/hsstart?P_HBNUM=32334

Nodrog