The Knowe, 301 Albert Drive, Glasgow

The Knowe is a well-preserved villa designed by Alexander Thomson, built in stages starting around 1852 for merchant John Blair in what was then a rural setting. This villa features Romanesque detailing and a tower, with one and a half storeys and broad-eaved, shallow-pitched gabled roofs of varying heights. It has round-arched openings with rusticated arches and shafted mullions. The original part of the building is roughly L-shaped and includes an open porch, while the villa was significantly enlarged with lower additions to the west and north, extending the entrance front to the east between 1855 and 1858.

Constructed from snecked stone-cleaned yellow rubble with ashlar dressings, the villa mainly has sash windows with original glazing, and most chimney stacks feature Thomsonesque chimney cans. The tower rises an additional storey, with square lights below the eaves and an elaborate metal roof finial. The interior ornamentation remains largely intact, and a billiards room was added to the west around 1880.

Additionally, there is a gabled single-storey and attic T-plan lodge built between 1852 and 1856, which shares similar detailing and features three arcaded gable-head lights above the porch facing Albert Drive. The property is also marked by distinctive gatepiers with original ornate timber gates. The boundary walls to the south along Ayton Road and to the east along Shields Road were rebuilt around 1873 to enclose a larger area, featuring a fireclay balustrade to the south and a distinctive wide gateway.