[1] Carstairs House was designed by the Edinburgh architect William Burn and built for Henry Monteith MP between 1821 and 1823.

[1][2] It then passed to his son Robert Monteith, and on his death to Joseph Monteith, who built a hydroelectric plant at nearby Jarviswood, and the Carstairs House Tramway to transport guests and family to and from Carstairs railway station.

[3] It was purchased by Sir James King, the former Lord Provost of Glasgow in 1899.

[4] In 1924 Carstairs House was acquired the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow who had selected it as base for the St Charles' Certified Institution for "mentally defective Catholic children".

[6] The institution, which was staffed by Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul,[7] closed in 1983.