The building was formerly the Italian consulate (having been an Italian social club in the early 1930s), hence its name (originally it was known as Casa d’Italia) and it subsequently served as Glasgow’s register office, hosting countless marriage ceremonies and weddings within its grand interior.
The Victorian townhouse dates back to the 1870s, designed by Charles Wilson and James Boucher, the property is constructed of dressed stone under a slate roof. It extends to around 12,000 square feet over four floors.
Internally, the house retains a “wealth of extraordinary period detail” - principally the Ionic columns on the ground floor which create a “magnificent entrance and frame the broad marble staircase that rises up to the main reception rooms on the first floor.”
The forged metalwork throughout the property was commissioned by the original owner, Walter MacFarlane, the founder of the historic Saracen Foundry.
Other exceptional period features include: elaborate plasterwork, an Art Nouveau billiards room, glass-domed anteroom, parquet wood flooring, wall friezes and very fine wood carvings.
Restored and developed from the 1990s onwards, more recent refurbishment has seen the installation of two beautiful kitchens and contemporary yet “sympathetically designed” bathrooms.
La Casa now lends itself to being a single luxurious private residence with self-contained staff quarters or, with the relevant consents, converted into a small number of high end apartments, with a modern lift system already in place. Savills also state the property could “revert back to its embassy heritage or as an events venue.”
1. La Casa
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2. La Casa
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4. La Casa
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