Lilybank House, 42 Bute Gardens, Glasgow

Lilybank House is a substantial, symmetrical classical villa built around 1850, likely in the style of David Hamilton. It has undergone significant alterations by two leading Scottish architectural firms: A & G Thomson (1863-65) and Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh (1894-95, 1900 and 1908). The main villa is three bays wide and two storeys high, constructed from polished ashlar. The central bay slightly projects, featuring arched ground-floor windows. A cill band runs along the first floor, topped by a corniced parapet with panelled central detailing. The rear elevation is four bays wide across two storeys and a basement, with advanced outer bays. The tall, floriate, incised chimneycans were added during the Thomson alterations (1863-65).

A south wing addition, also by Alexander & George Thomson, is single-storey and basement, accessed by steps with die parapet walls leading to a large tetrastyle Greek Ionic portico. A roll-moulded plinth serves as a cill band and pedestal. To the left of the entrance are two wide bays, each containing narrow windows. The south elevation features a pedimented advanced gable with a tripartite, mullioned window. The west wall has a single window in the outer bay, while the rear elevation is pedimented with a raised gable, breaking forward, and featuring a tripartite window flanked by smaller windows. The chimney stacks are axial, with independent flues linked at the top and topped with tall, floriate, incised chimneycans.

The north wing addition was remodelled by Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh. This section is lower in height and also three bays wide, with the right-hand bay projecting. It maintains a style consistent with the mid-19th century villa, with round-arched ground-floor windows and a corniced parapet. An arched entrance, topped with a glazed fanlight, is located in the left-hand bay. The north elevation is three bays wide, with an advancing central bay, featuring blind arched niches in the ground-floor outer bays. Tall wallhead chimney stacks are linked by the parapet, with a further corniced wallhead stack to the rear.

The interior, inspected in 1988, includes a top-lit main villa with a corniced entrance hall featuring an etched glass door on anta pilastered supports. The south wing’s entrance hall exhibits elaborate plasterwork with Greek detailing, including a carved pillar screen and cornicing. Stencil decorations were found during refurbishment work in 2005. The roofs are covered in grey slate, and the rainwater goods are made of cast iron.