Description

George Eadie & Sons for stained glass artist W G Morton. Dated 1912. 2-storey 3-bay gabled Arts & Crafts villa incorporating studio and Morton stained glass. Squared and coursed cream sandstone to ground floor of principal elevation. Remainder white-painted harl with predominantly cream sandstone ashlar margins. Base course, band course, stone mullions, overhanging eaves.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: principal (West) elevation with hoodmoulded and keystoned low wide entrance to ground left with hanging copper sign, 'Lymnerscroft', and 2-leaf timber door. Above, tripartite dormer breaking eaves. To outer right, 5-light bowed window to ground with tripartite window in gable above. Later flat-roofed garage extension recessed to far right.

Small pane leaded casement windows, some with stained glass detailing (see Notes). Graded grey slates, red clay ridge tiles. Some corniced gable and ridge stacks. Predominantly cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: good quality Arts & Crafts decorative scheme with particularly fine stained glass by Morton. Fireplaces mostly removed or replaced. Timber panelled entrance hall with inglenook style recess. Large north-facing studio to ground floor with inglenook fireplace incorporating seating and simple stained glass panels. Studio window with simple heraldic panels to upper lights with thistle motif. Long canted tripartite stair window with impressive central stained glass mermaid panel. Stairwell with canted timber oriel window with simple stained glass heraldic panel. Timber doors to 1st floor with oval panels of stained glass flowers: lilies, water lilies, roses, thistles, and violets.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: pair of cream ashlar square-plan gatepiers with stepped pyramidal caps to W. To N, stepped wall of coursed bull-faced concrete blocks.

Statement of Interest

3 Tinto Road was the home of the renowned Glasgow stained glass artist William Gibson Morton (1871-1946) and it incorporates his studio and examples of his stained glass, including an exceptionally fine 'Mermaid' panel. In the late 19th century and early 20th century Glasgow was renowned as a centre for exceptional stained glass and a number of outstanding artists, such as Morton, emerged.

George Eadie & Sons were speculative builders about whom little is presently known and it is likely that Morton engaged them to build the property to his own specification, allowing him to specify the design to suit his needs, such as the large north-facing studio on the ground floor. As well as the mermaid panel there are a number of other pieces of stained glass such as simple heraldic shields and flower panels to the 1st floor doors.

Morton was a tutor in Decoration and Signwriting in the Decorative trades Department of the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. In the late 1920s he became Principal of the Decorative Trades Institute until his retirement in 1938. He was also a member of the Glasgow Art Club and regularly exhibited his oil paintings.

One of Morton's most celebrated commissions was the scheme he produced in 1902 for Miller & Lang's Printing Works in Darnley Street (see separate listing) which included mermaids, whales and seabirds. Donnelly describes this work as 'some of the most adventurous domestic glass of the decade'truly modern in concept and compare favourably with the best German and Austrian glass of the period.'

The house name 'Lymnerscroft' is a pun and a typical Arts & Crafts device, presumably devised by Morton and intended to hint at his profession (Limner/lymner = painter/illuminator).

To the East is a small scale Japanese water garden, with many of the structures built in concrete, presumably designed by Morton. It consists of 3 small bridges on sloping ground with interconnecting pools which were originally plumbed in to provide a cascade of water. A large elevated concrete bird bath with a pair of doves was also originally plumbed in with plumes of water emerging from their beaks. To the North a concrete screen with a post and lintel archway allows access to the water garden. It is inscribed with a quote from the poet Dorothy Gurney (1858-1932) which is often used in gardens, 'The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God's heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77780040

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)