Given Strathbungo’s links to the great Greek Thomson I took a stroll the other week to see what other Thomson buildings I could find within a short walk of Strathbungo and came across a surprising number. My walk took me first to Maria Villa, on Mansion House Road in Langside over to Millbrae Crescent (now with a sturdy flood prevention wall round the back). Holmwood House is an energetic walk a little further. (But once you have made it over there do take a walk around the magnificent Linn Park and over to the stunning Snuff Mill Bridge)
Closer to home of course are his tenements on Darnley Road and Nisthdale Drive which most of us pass every day but over at the corner of Albert Drive and Shields Road in Pollokshields is The Knowe. There are many others in Glasgow too numerous to mention but if you are a Thomson fan you can find them all on this Google Map I created of them. Please feel free to edit and amend the map adding comments on the buildings.
Having already spent a lot of time and not inconsiderable money renovating our house in Strathbungo I saw recently that Glasgow Metropolitan College is offering an evening course on how to look after older buildings.
The course starts in April and lasts for 11 weeks over at the North Hanover Street Campus off George Square and is presented by David T Martin (MBE, BArch, RIBA, FRIAS, DipHisArt).
It offers participants the opportunity to
learn about maintenance and repair of older property in the West of Scotland. If you are a home owner or otherwise interested in maintenance and repair of older properties, you can learn about the traditional materials, their likely defects and various repair techniques. This course is especially useful for owners of listed buildings and property in conservation areas”.
The course includes what homeowners and others working with traditional building materials need to know including repair and maintenance requirements of older buildings; traditional materials, likely defects and a range of repair techniques. The course covers stonework, roofing, brickwork, rot, concrete; beetle attack, timber, metalwork, windows, decorative finishes, doors and planned maintenance.
