Elpalet, including gatepiers, 250 East Kilbride Road, Rutherglen, Rutherglen South, South Lanarkshire

Description

This building was designed in circa 1914 and is a large 2-storey castellated villa, with some Tudor design influences, constructed of concrete and brick. The exterior of the building is rendered white, and it has parapetted and crenellated wallheads. There are two projecting canted bays to the principal (east) elevation, of varying width and depth. There is a single storey Tudor-arched square porch on the south elevation. There are some hood-moulded single windows and entrances, and the larger windows have timber mullions and transomes with a central arch detail. There is some modern glazing, predominantly to the rear (west) elevation. At the rear of the house there is a forestair and single full-height canted bay with a cat slide roof swept over. The roof is partly pitched and slated, and part flat.

The interior was partially seen in 2016. The building was subdivided into 4 dwellings in the early 1960s. There is some detailed plasterwork and wood panelling to several rooms. Ground level entrance vestibules retain some marble geometric pattern flooring, and that to the south has a domed ceiling in the circular entrance hall leading from the porch with a tiled mosaic floor.

There are three gatepiers to the northeast entrance of the semi-circular drive and they are crenellated in the same style as the villa wallheads.

Statement of Interest

Elpalet was designed and built around 1915, by and for Glasgow building contractor John McDonald. The house is a substantial and externally intact example of a villa designed in the late Edwardian and early First World War period with some good quality decorative features surviving to both the exterior and interior. The house has several distinctive design features, including the castlellated style of the crenellations and parapet. The interior of the property was subdivided into 4 flats, and has retained many interesting features such as timber and plasterwork. The gatepiers situated at the end of the drive on the main road entrance to the property enhance the streetscape.

Age and Rarity

Elpalet, meaning 'God is deliverance', refers to one of David's sons born in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 14:5 of the Bible). The house was built as the private home for John McDonald, the founder of John McDonald Contractors Ltd of Glasgow and Burnside, in around 1914. The Post Office Directory and Valuation Roll for 1914-15 lists the house as occupied and these documents provide evidence of the building's date.

The early 20th century saw substantial houses being built in suburban and rural areas of Scotland, by wealthy families and increasingly by the rising middle class, who were keen to have homes away from the densely crowded cities. These suburbs expanded with the improvement and growth of transport infrastructure. Large suburban houses were typically constructed as isolated buildings at the edge of town, either along principal roads or in satellite villages. Elpalet was built in a relatively undeveloped area that later attracted housing schemes in the 1960s.

Early 20th century villas were built using a variety of styles, designs often taking inspiration from the past. Elpalet is no exception and demonstrates a predominantly castellated style in its external design, characterised by the crenelated wallhead and parapet adapted for use in a suburban domestic house. Several openings to the ground floor have Tudor influences, such as the shallow and wide pointed arch windows to the south entrance. This aspect of the design makes Elpalet uncommon in Scottish architectural terms as it is unusual for this style to appear in the early part of the 20th century.

Elpalet is not rare in its date or building type, but its interest lies in its unusual style and its good interior decorative scheme (despite being subdivided into 4 flats in the 1960s), and this sets it apart from its contemporaries. The flat roof form and early use of concrete anticipate the housing schemes later created by John McDonald Contractors Ltd in the 1920s and 1930s, for example about 500 'Sunlit Homes' around Warriston Crescent in Carntyne that all originally had flat roofs.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The interior has been altered to form 4 flats, however this does not detract from the special interest of the building. The interior decoration is good for a building of this date and type. There is some detailed plasterwork, including good egg and dart moulded cornice to some principal rooms; some timber panelled walls and doors remain.

Plan form

The footprint of the villa is roughly L-shaped in plan form. This is not unusual for a building of this type and can be found in a number of styles of the period. Internally, the plan form is typical of a large house with the main public rooms evident on the ground floor and the private rooms to the upper floor.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

The previous list description indicated that the partly pitched roof may indicate possible re-use of an existing villa, however map evidence does not show any earlier building on this site to support this claim.

However, the design of Elpalet is a synthesis of both traditional and modern styles. The use of the flat roof construction would become the signature design for McDonald in the 1920s and 30s. McDonald's interpretation of historicist styles, whilst incorporating some technical innovation to the roof design, is both a nod to architectural history, and innovative for its early modernist transformation of domestic architecture, enabling the home to be modern, comfortable and functional.

John McDonald Contractors Ltd designed and built numerous council house schemes and speculative development for the Glasgow Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s, and these schemes include parts of Knightswood (1924-28), Burnside, Bearsden (1930s), and Carntyne (1929-33) to name a few, with some designed in the modern International style (see separate listings e.g. LB22138-LB22143, LB48081, LB48599). In 1919, McDonald founded the 'Sunlit Standard Building Company', later known as the 'Sunlit Building Co.', which prefabricated homes to order and used an elaborate radiant-sun trademark. A number of the domestic house designs which came out of the Sunlit Building Company had flat roofs offering advantages of economy and increased sunlight. This was innovative, but the damp Scottish weather proved problematic and the roof designs were later replaced with more conventional sloping roofs which shed water more efficiently.

Sir John McDonald (1874-1964) was founding partner in the firm John McDonald Contractors (or J M Contractors) which also employed his son J. R. H. McDonald. Although they were not trained as architects they travelled on the Continent and may have been inspired by Le Corbusier's principles and Continental housing such as the 1927 housing estate at Weissenhof. Sir John patented a flat-roofed, semi-detached house prototype in 1924 to profit from the new council house boom and suburban development in Glasgow. They purchased the Kilmardinny estate in the 1930s and designed some villas in the International Style in Carse View Drive, Bearsden. McDonald wrote a book on modern design entitled 'Modern Housing' the result of travels on the Continent. He was knighted in 1937.

Setting

Elpalet is situated in Carmunnock, a suburb of Glasgow, and is positioned alongside later housing development which appeared after 1960. The house is set back from the road and in its own grounds on a slight rise in the land.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2016).

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2016. Previously listed as '250 East Kilbride Road, Elpalet'.

External Links

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