Previous Owners and Uses
Thomas Brown, a physician from Newmains of Loudon in Ayrshire, bought the 200-acre Langside estate in 1776 for around £4,000. Brown, who had made his fortune practicing in London, commissioned the renowned architect Robert Adam (1728-92) to design an elegant classical mansion, Langside House, modelled after Marble Hill House in Twickenham. This stately home featured symmetrical block wings and reflected Brown’s refined taste.
Thomas passed away in 1782, and his estate was inherited by his sons, George and Robert, who both died unmarried. In 1841, Thomas Brown MD, born in 1774, inherited Langside House, eventually selling it in 1853 to Neale Thomson, owner of the neighbouring Camphill Estate. Thomson implemented a development plan for Langside, transforming it into an attractive residential area for Glasgow’s affluent professionals during the city's industrial boom. Some of the earliest grand villas, located along Camphill Avenue and Mansionhouse Road, remain today as listed buildings. Notably, the handsome sandstone villas at 155 (Thornwood) and 157 (Hazelwood) Camphill Avenue, dating back to 1875, provide a glimpse of this period's architectural style. Hazelwood later became part of St. Aloysius Jesuit preparatory school.
Signs of ancient habitation were also found on the estate. A Bronze Age stone with cup and ring markings, discovered in Bluebell Woods south of Langside House, was gifted to Glasgow museums in 1902 and may have served as an ancient boundary or tribal marker.
Langside House saw various notable occupants over time, including Thomas Hill, Chairman of the Caledonian Railway Company, and Stephen Alley of Sentinel Engineering in Polmadie. In the 20th century, a builder and contractor owned the estate, which was partly used as a poultry farm. In the mid-1980s, Balfour Beatty developed the area, incorporating the historic Bluebell Wood and naming it appropriately: Mansionhouse Gardens.
A picture of the Bon Secours hospital on the site of of St Helen's Gardens. You can also see the neighbouring house which was recently demolished
Another map of the estate, before it was developed, showing the school building's location - it was called Ogilvie Hall
The now-demolished 1960s school building which was just outside the estate, available to view from the rear of blocks 15, 9 and 7
A Herald advertising feature, featuring a retired couple who had bought a townhouse, from 1987.