Minto’s Buildings
Minto’s Buildings was a former 3 storey large stone tenement at 265 Glasgow Road, situated immediately adjacent to the Clydesdale Bank and the 2 storey Broompark Place. The property was situated not far from the eastern side of the junction of Stonefield Road.
1910 Map showing 3 storey Minto’s Buildings
The tenement was built between 1902 and 1903 on Minto’s Land, a long, rectangular plot of land that already had a cottage named “Dervoch Cottage” on it, also owned by the Minto family. A small wall and a few trees were removed upon construction of the building. The little front garden was fenced off by a wooden fence, blocking off the pavement in front of it. Opening out on to Glasgow Road, the building was imposing at 3 storeys, being even taller than the fairly tall bank next door. An internal stair let to the upper 2 floors.
With Dervoch Cottage situated at the rear, access was required to be maintained, so a large pend* close was built on the east of the building, allowing through access to Minto’s rear yard and of course leading down to the cottage. These were spacious homes by comparison to other tenements with only 8 homes in all of the 3 storeys. There were no shops in the property.
- Note: ‘Pend’ is a Scottish architectural term referring to a passageway that passes through a building, often from a street through to a courtyard or ‘back court’, and typically designed for vehicular rather than exclusively pedestrian access. A pend is distinct from a vennel or a close, as it has rooms directly above it.
1950 Purchased, Licensed Aerial Image showing Minto’s Buildings, Glasgow Road, Blantyre
The original owner was Mr. William Minto, a warehouseman of Castleview Blantyre, who would later live in London following WW1. In 1903, the completed building attracted families from nearby, upgrading their rented accommodation. Amongst them John Hunter and Peter Clark who moved from nearby Calder Street and also Alexander Christie, a tailor who moved from Central Buildings.
During WW1, the 8 homes were rented out for rents between £10, 5 shillings and £13, 10 shillings. William Minto’s tenants were families Trainer, Forrest, McCutcheon, Carmichael, Nimmo, Steele, Crombie and Duncan.
When William died in 1918, Minto’s buildings remained in the family passing to Martin Orme Minto, who was absent, living in Michigan, USA.
Ownership of Minto’s Buildings would remain in this family for some time. In the 1960’s families including the Ross and Steele family lived in the building. It would take until the 1970’s for the building to be demolished, no longer fit for purpose in the modern era and in desperate need of repairs, rewiring and plumbing.
When Minto’s Buildings were demolished, it created a gap between the bank and Broompark Place, a gap which still exists today. Grassed over, a couple of trees planted in the 1970’s are now quite tall. Today, the rest of Minto’s Land, where the yard and cottage once were is now modern day Valerio Court, with at least 4 of these modern homes on the plot.
Location Line drawing putting Minto’s Buildings into modern context where they once were
Our location line drawing below shows how it once looked against a modern context. How much simpler a building’s history is to tell, when it didn’t change hands often and contained no shops!
From the book, “Blantyre Glasgow Road South – The Real Story” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017