La Casa, 22 Park Circus, Glasgow

This spectacular mansion house constructed of dressed stone under a slate roof was designed by Charles Wilson and James Boucher in the 1870s and extends to circa 12,000 sq ft over four floors.

Internally the house retains a wealth of extraordinary period detail beginning with the Ionic columns on the ground floor which create a magnificent entrance and frame the broad marble staircase that rises up to the main reception rooms on the first floor. Intricate forged metalwork can be seen throughout; this was commissioned by the original owner, Walter MacFarlane, the founder of Saracen Foundry, and other period treasures include the elaborate plasterwork, an Art Nouveau billiards room, glass-domed anteroom, parquet wood flooring, wall friezes and very fine wood carvings.

The building was formerly the Italian consulate (having been an Italian social club in the early 1930s), hence its name (originally it was known as Casa d’Italia) and it subsequently served as Glasgow’s register office, hosting countless marriage ceremonies and weddings within its grand interior. Restored and developed from the 1990s onwards, more recent refurbishment has seen the installation of two beautiful kitchens and contemporary yet sympathetically designed bathrooms. La Casa now lends itself to being a single luxurious private residence with self-contained staff quarters or, with the relevant consents, converted into a small number of high end apartments, with a modern lift system already in place. It could equally revert back to its embassy heritage or as an events venue.