I’ll admit, when I first opened the link for ‘La Casa’ and found the sales details for a large Victorian townhouse in Glasgow, I thought there must have been a mistake. I was half expecting a picturesque property nestled in a dramatic and sun-drenched Mediterranean landscape.
But the name La Casa, in this case, comes from its original purpose: this was for many years the Italian consulate in Glasgow’s prestigious Park District. It later went on to serve as the home of Glasgow’s register office which — I think we're safe in saying — will have made it the most staggeringly grand register office in Britain. Today, instead, it's one of the most staggeringly grand townhouses in the country — and it's currently for sale at £2.5 million.
The mansion house at 22 Park Circus is billed as a ‘luxurious private residence with self-contained staff quarters’, according to the selling agent, Savills.
‘Luxurious’ is no exaggeration here. After all, how many homes do you know that come complete with an Art Nouveau billiard room and a glass-domed anteroom?
Given its layout, La Casa could be changed from single residence to something different. It would be potentially possible — subject to the relevant permissions — to transform it into a collection of high-end apartments; could, as Savills suggest, it could be bought by an overseas nation to become a consulate again? Could it be a fancy, marble-floored events venue? La Casa has all sorts of possibilities — no wonder it's been one of the top five most-viewed homes on Rightmove this year so far.
The four-storey property was designed by Charles Wilson, one of the most high profile Glasgow architects of the Victorian era, and James Boucher in the 1870s.
Fast-forward to today, and little period detail seems to have been spared at La Casa: it boasts Ionic columns, a broad marble staircase, delicate plasterwork, vaulted gold ceilings, parquet wood flooring, wall friezes, and fine wood carvings.
The extraordinary house also features intricate forged metal work which was commissioned by La Casa’s original owner, Walter Macfarlane, the founder of Saracen Foundry.
The building was restored and developed from the 1990s onwards and now includes two modern kitchens and bathrooms. Thankfully, someone here has got a practical side too: a modern lift system is also in place.
A scroll through the pictures suggest that La Casa is not completely refurbished though: there’s still some rooms across the 12,000-odd sq ft footprint that could do with sprucing up.
‘La Casa is something of a Glasgow phenomenon with many having shared their happiest and most exciting days here when it was a wedding venue and registry office,’ says Cameron Ewer, of Savills.
‘So imagine how special it could be to have one of Glasgow's best loved and most exquisite properties and be able to call it home forever more. This is surely one of the most exciting opportunities to present itself in recent time.’
La Casa is on the market for £2,500,000 via Savills — see more details and pictures.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
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