Long Croft

Long Croft?is a catagory A, National Monuments house, built in 1901-1902 by a husband and wife couple, Alexander Paterson and Maggie Hamilton.?

Husband and wife were part of the Glasgow boys and Glasgow girls group of painters, needle women, architects and artisans.?

To the left of the drawing room fireplace there are books with lots of information on the house and the Paterson family, including some wonderful photographs taken by James Paterson, the architect's brother and another painter.? They were part of a large group who grew up on the West of Scotland and? spent a great deal of time together.? The house was often full of artists, working together.?

The house book, which is in the Hunterian museum in Glasgow, documents James Whistler, George Walton, EA? Walton, James Guthrie and many others staying and dining in the house.? All the tapestries and panels were done by Maggie Hamilton except for the one next to the piano which is a Spanish alter cloth that she was very fond of.?

There was a very ornate piece that hung in the dining room which Hamilton donated to the Glasgow Museum of Art before her death, it may have been destroyed in the Glasgow School of Art two years ago. If you are interested in this era of painting the Anderson trust is stored down at the Helensburgh library and contains a great many paintings done in the house or garden.

In the hall is a water colour done by Paterson and a wood block and charcoal done by Viola, their daughter. The poem in the hall was written for Viola by a friend as she lived in the house until she died.?

In the drawing room the watercolour is by Jesse Newberry, Frau Newberry's wife. The charcoal murals on the stairs were cartoons done for Fife town hall by William Drummond Bone. Over the years people have donated some paintings and furniture back to the house. In the library friends and family who have visited us in different countries (Kenya, Norway) sent presents in the form of art!