EXTRA SPECIAL

THIS TINY, 100-YEAR-OLD CROFTER’S COTTAGE IS NOW A SPACIOUS MODERNIST-INSPIRED FAMILY HOME.

- Catherine Coyle

Peter Womersley might be somewhat overlooked in the canon of British architecture, but those who do know his small but significant archive of work cherish it as a beacon of mid-century beauty. The modernist architect, who died in 1993, is held in high regard in Scotland in particular, since many of his iconic buildings can be found in the Borders, around Selkirk, Melrose and Galashiels.

For Matt Loader, a director at Glasgow practice Loader Monteith, Womersley’s design principles are the gold standard, and he freely admits that he borrowed elements of Womersley’s majestic post-war aesthetic on this project, the reimagining of a crofter’s cottage in the Highlands.

“When I arrived at the house for the first time I remember thinking, wow, what an incredible place,” recalls Loader, who ventured north to Strone of Glenbanchor, near Newtonmore, for initial consultations with the cottage’s owners, Ian Jones and Patricia Johnston. He’d been introduced to them by building contractor Anthony Robinson, who’d worked with the practice on a previous project.

Two things struck Loader on that first encounter: the minuscule footprint of the property and the vastness of its surroundings. These two factors, he knew, would be the linchpins of his design. “Strone is a project of contrasts,” he explains. “It’s a small cottage in a big landscape. It would be a different building if it were anywhere else. In fact, I have no hesitation in saying that the landscape and the house are fundamentally interlinked.”