Gean House

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The Gean House is a historic mansion located on Tullibody Road, Alloa, Scotland. It is often used as a venue for events.

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[edit] Background

In November 1911, Alexander Forrester-Paton, of Inglewood House, Alloa, purchased 30 acres of land from the Earl of Mar and Kellie, for £6,220. His intention was to ‘erect and complete in a satisfactory manner a Mansion House and relative Offices.’ The mansion house was to be named Gean House.

Grandson of the founder of the family business, Alexander Forrester-Paton was the managing director of the Alloa based firm of Patons, internationally renowned as a leading manufacturer of woollen yarn. Some 16 years earlier, Alexander had purchased land from the Earl to build his own family home at nearby Inglewood. No expense had been spared in the construction of Inglewood House; a magnificent building that confirmed the growing status of the Paton family. Money was evidently to be no constraint with the proposals for Gean.

In fact, Gean House was to be built as a generous wedding gift for Alexander’s eldest son, also named Alexander, who worked in the family business. Plans were commissioned from William Kerr, [1866-1940], partner in the local firm of John Melvin, Architects, a tried and tested architect previously engaged to design Paton’s imposing headquarters at Kilncraigs in Alloa.

The Gean House commission was not confined to the erection of one dwelling. A country house of distinction required lodges and staff accommodation. Kerr’s task was to design and construct a mini-estate, inclusive of north, south and east lodges, a walled garden, glasshouses and garaging for family vehicles.

[edit] A Contemporary Design

Completed in 1912, Kerr’s design for Gean was greatly influenced by the work of Edwin Lutyens, [1869-1944], the distinguished English architect. Lutyen’s early work marked the transition from the authoritative and imposing Victorian country house style to the softer, Arts and Crafts style of the Edwardian era that sought to integrate houses and gardens into the landscape. There are therefore striking differences between the late Victorian design of Inglewood and the romantic, retro style chosen for Gean, despite being built only 12 years later.

Gean House bears all the hallmarks of Lutyen’s romantic approach, deploying traditional materials, softened with creepers and extensive planting. The generous, steep roofs, tall chimneystacks and side entranceway at Gean are all notable Lutyen’s features, brilliantly executed by Kerr. The design of Gean also reflects the prevalent changes in social and economic conditions. As jobs in factories and offices increasingly offered better pay, fewer hours and more independence, suitable domestic staff were becoming difficult to find. Servants therefore had to be tempted to work in country houses by ensuring that they were less arduous to run and offered improved standards of staff accommodation.

Modern, labour saving, technology was therefore enthusiastically embraced at Gean to include central heating, gas ignition coal fires and electric lighting. The service wing was designed to be very much part of the main house, with attractive, south facing, staff bedrooms positioned to overlook the principal gardens. Only the higher cill levels of the service wing windows give away its original function.

Despite its modernity, Gean House incorporates many features to be found in country houses of earlier periods; the grand hall, complete with minstrel styled gallery, the timber panelled dining room, the elegant drawing room, the library and the obligatory billiard room. Inglenook fireplaces form a particularly decorative feature throughout Gean and a practical means of retaining fireside heat. Conservatories were no longer fashionable in Edwardian Britain, but loggias and Japanese styled gardens were very much in vogue and incorporated into the grand plan.

William Kerr was fortunate that his clients had the money to ensure that he could design and deliver one of the most outstanding buildings of its time. A local firm, Robert Cairns of Alloa, was engaged to build Kerr’s masterpiece. The quality of their craftsmanship is evidenced throughout the building, deploying a quality of materials that is scarcely available, far less affordable, today. Gean House functioned, as an affluent family home for fewer than 40 years, but remains an enduring monument to the craft skills of working people.

[edit] After the Patons

Gean remained a Paton family residence until 1951, when it was gifted to the Scottish Temperance Alliance for use as a conference and study centre. During the 1970’s, both the north and south lodges and a policy field were sold off, and much of the parkland gifted to the local council. Despite raising money by dismembering the estate, the registered owners, The Gean House [Scottish Temperance Alliance} Limited, went into liquidation in 1979.

The House was sold to a Melbourne based businessman in 1982, but remained boarded up and abandoned for a further seven years until it found new owners with ambitions to turn the House into an exclusive private hotel. A considerable investment was made in 1989 to partially restore the building and redress years of neglect. However, within a few years, the hotel business failed.

In 1999, Gean House was bought by an Alloa based trust company, now known as Ceteris. The company, which also owns Inglewood House, has fully restored the property as a splendid venue for a wide range of business and social events.

Alexander Forrester-Paton also owned large parts of Clackmannanshire, most notably Alloa and built many buildings, another one is Cowdenpark where he lived.

[edit] External links

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