Plantation House off Govan Road, photographed by Thomas Annan in 1870.
The Craigiehall estate near Govan was purchased in 1783 by the merchant and cashier of the Glasgow Arms Bank, John Robertson. Robertson and his brothers owned sugar and cotton plantations in the West Indies, and he may have changed the name of the estate to Plantation in recognition of his business interests (and the primary source of his fortune). The estate was sold to John Mair (d 1824) of John Mair & Co in 1793, and he rebuilt the old house there, adding wings, offices, walls and gates and laying out gardens in the grounds. The estate was acquired in 1829 by the dyer William MacLean (d 1867).
Plantation was laid out for tenement houses in the 1870s and Maclean, Plantation, Mair and Craigiehall Streets refer to the history of the old estate. The house was in a state of disrepair by 1878 and it was finally demolished c 1900.
Reference: Sp Coll Dougan Add. 73
Glasgow University Library, Special Collections
Keywords:
bankers, country houses, dyers, Glasgow Arms Bank, John Mair & Co, mansions, Plantation House, West Indies merchants