Pollok House (now closed to visitors due to conservation work) is one of Glasgow’s best-preserved grand estates and was home to the Maxwell family from 1752. Successive building works and extensions to the property have ensured that the finest Scottish craftsmanship in architectural detail is on display. The house was extended in the early 20th century, but the 18th-century features were sympathetically preserved.
It has been a family home since 1752. The many people who have lived within its walls have all contributed to the collections of furniture, books, ceramics and paintings. Some collected for personal interest, others for public appreciation.
In late 1914, as the Great War raged, hospitals in Britain were overwhelmed by the sheer number of wounded from fighting in France. Auxiliary hospitals, much like the Nightingale hospitals created during the COVID-19 pandemic, were set up in country houses around Britain, including Pollok House in the south of Glasgow. The house was given over to the care of convalescing soldiers, taking the pressure off acute care hospitals. Most of the patients at Pollok House came from Stobhill Hospital in the north of the city, and it was open to all ranks. In 1915 the auxiliary hospital had 16 beds, which were located in the current Music Room and Dining Room. Later photographs show many more patients being accommodated. To free up space for more patients, the Maxwell family moved out of their home.
The Stirling-Maxwell collection of paintings and books, which reside within the walls of Pollok House, is a snapshot of what was once the most comprehensive collection of Spanish artwork within Britain, collated by Sir William Stirling-Maxwell. Sir William’s Annals of the Artists of Spain (1848) was the first scholarly history of Spanish art in English and the first book on art to be illustrated with photographs. His library included books and treatises on Spanish art, as well as a vast number of emblem books and festival books.
