1 Buchan Road, Carfin

These are a semi-detached pair of Canadian timber Commissioners houses built in 1938 for the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) by Red Cedar Supply Company of Glasgow. They were designed as an early experiment by Basil Spence, and are located in Carfin, North Lanarkshire.

The houses are rectangular in plan, with three bays each. The lower portions of the walls are clad in horizontal log cabin boarding up to sill height, above which are shingles and gabled porches. The front elevation features bipartite windows at the centre, with gabled porches supported by timber posts to the bays adjacent to the centre. Single windows are located in the outer bays. Part-glazed inner vestibule doors are present, as are timber windows. The roofs are covered in concrete tiles, and there are harled brick stacks to the outer pitches.

The Carfin houses were among the first timber houses built by the SSHA between 1937 and 1941. They were erected to coincide with a royal visit to open the Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston Park in May 1938, and were inspected by King George and Queen Elizabeth. The houses were built to address urgent housing needs in a Special Area serving an industrial estate. Similar examples can be found in Fordyce at 1-4 St Tarquin’s Place.