Homelea, Faith Avenue, Quarriers Village, Kilmacolm, Inverclyde

Description

Robert Bryden, 1886. Single-storey and attic roughly rectangular-plan piend-roofed villa with half-timbered detailing and dormers breaking eaves to attic. 2-storey canted bays to NE and SW elevations; half-timbered gable to NW (entrance) elevation with swept-roof porch to one side; canted bay window to SE (rear) elevation. Cream sandstone ashlar with some half-timbering and bull-faced snecked sandstone base course. Base course, ground floor cill course to principal elevations; string course to canted bays and gable; bargeboarded eaves. Roll-moulded window margins, some raised; some transomed and mullioned windows.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: half-glazed timber-panelled door to swept-roof glazed porch with decorative woodwork. 2-leaf timber panelled front door in stop-chamfered, roll-moulded architrave; decorative carved tablet above bearing date AD 1886. Advanced gable to centre with tripartite window at ground; attic floor jettied out on carved stone corbels and timber brackets; half-timbering with decorative woodwork; bipartite window to attic with timber mullion. Swept-roof windowless half-timbered bay to right with decorative turned baluster detailing.

SW (SIDE) ELEVATION: canted bay to left with tripartite window at ground; flanking transomed windows; bipartite gabled dormer to attic. Irregularly-fenestrated recessed 3-bay wing to right with

half-timbered 2-window dormer to attic.

SE (REAR) ELEVATION: 4-light canted bay window at ground to left; bipartite, half-timbered gabled dormer above. Slightly recessed bay to right with bipartite window at ground and bipartite, half-timbered gabled dormer above.

NE (SIDE) ELEVATION: canted bay to right identical to one on SW elevation, but with piend-roofed dormer. 3-bay wing slightly recessed to left: bipartite window to right with decorative strap-work pediment above; timber boarded side door to centre with fanlight over lintel; piend-roofed dormers above; possibly later door at 1st floor with concrete steps to outer left.

Timber sash and case windows with predominantly plate glass glazing; some 4-pane glazing to sides. Decorative ridge stacks with octagonal yellow clay cans. Graded grey slates; decorative red terracotta ridge tiles. Cast iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: tiled porch. Half-glazed timber-panelled inner door. Inner and outer entrance hall divided by beam supported on decorative console brackets. Timber stair with boxed-in balusters, timber hand rail and tapered newel post with ball finial. Interior door-cases with corner rondels; interior timber panelled doors (some boxed in to make Fire Doors). Half-glazed timber panelled doors with frosted glass to side-door lobby and former office. Fairly plain cornicing throughout.

Statement of Interest

Situated at the junction between Faith Avenue and the principal road through Quarrier's Village, this was the house of the founder of the village, William Quarrier, from 1886 until his death in 1903.

William Quarrier was a Glaswegian businessman with a chain of shoe shops, who had suffered great poverty in his childhood, and was very concerned by the plight of orphaned and abandoned children in Glasgow. In 1864 he set up a 'Shoe Black Brigade' which issued impoverished young boys with shoe-shining kits and uniforms, and made reading and writing classes available to them in the evening. In1871 he opened a night refuge for destitute children in Renfrew Street. His greatest achievement, however, was the establishment of Quarrier's Village, which was built from 1877 onwards. William Quarrier was strongly opposed to the institutional nature of city orphanages, and instead built a number of villas or 'cottages' which each housed 20-30 children under the care of a married couple who acted as foster parents. The village also contained a school, church, post office, dairy, poultry farm, fire station, and workshops where the children were trained to a trade. The architect Robert Bryden was commissioned to design the buildings, which are all different but built to a roughly Tudor style, apparently inspired by the work of W E Nesfield and Richard Noman Shaw.

In 1882 Quarrier gave up his chain of shops and spent all his time managing the orphan homes and other charitable projects. Homelea is a very modest house, smaller than most of the other villas in the village, and reflects Quarrier's simple tastes. His office was located at the back end of the house, and the side door gave access to business visitors. Construction of the village continued after Quarrier's death in 1903, and it remains well preserved with only a few of the buildings having been altered in some way.

External Links

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