Scottish baronial style
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The Scottish baronial style is part of the Gothic revival in architectural styles, drawing on stylistic elements and forms from castles, tower houses and mansions of the Renaissance period in Scotland, such as Craigievar Castle and Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. The revival style was popular from the early 19th century until World War I.
Buildings of the style frequently feature towers further adorned by small turrets. Roof lines are uneven, their crenelated battlements often broken by stepped gables. While small lancet windows may appear in towers and gables, large bay windows of plate glass were not uncommon, but even these would often have their individual roofs adorned by pinnacles and crenelation. Porches, porticos and porte-cocheres, were often given the full castle treatment, an imitation portcullis on the larger houses would occasionally be suspended above a front door, flanked by heraldic beasts and other medieval architectural motifs. This architectural style was often employed for public buildings, such as Aberdeen Grammar School. However, it was by no means confined to Scotland and is, in truth, a fusion of the Gothic revival castle architecture first employed by Horace Walpole for his Twickenham villa, Strawberry Hill, and the ancient Scottish defensive tower houses. In the 19th century it became fashionable for private houses to be built with small turrets and dubbed in Scottish baronial style. In fact the architecture often had little in common with tower houses, which retained their defensive functions and fell short of 19th century ideas of comfort.
The style was popular in Scotland and was applied to many relatively modest dwellings. Ironically, several real Scottish castles were rebuilt in the Scottish baronial style. The Earl of Rosebery, who possessed a genuine Scottish tower house Barnbougle Castle, vacated the castle and built a large Scottish baronial mansion Dalmeny House within sight of Barnbougle. Other 19th century English aristocrats favoured this style for the shooting and sporting estates they owned in Scotland, often building "castles" of immense proportions such as Skibo Castle and Balmoral Castle.
Historic Lindisfarne Castle, crowning a spectacular island site was rebuilt as a private residence in more baronial style by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1903. On the strength of its success, Sir Edwin was commissioned to design from scratch the dauntingly austere granite Castle Drogo in 1910 – 1913 for Sir Julius Drewe, a retired millionaire; construction continued until 1930. There Lutyens achieved a unique modernized baronial character, whose bare stone walls and unpainted oak panelling are warmed by chintz-covered sofas and cheered by electric lighting
The 20th-century Scottish baronial castles have had the reputation of architectural follies. Among most patrons and architects the style fell from favour along with the Gothic revival in the early years of the 20th century.
| Revival styles in 19th-century architecture | |
|---|---|
| Neo-Classicism: | Directoire and Empire • Regency • Egyptian Revival • Greek Revival and Neo-Grec |
| Neo-Romanesque and Byzantine Revival: | Richardsonian Romanesque • Russo-Byzantine • Muscovite Revival |
| Gothic Revival: | Scottish Baronial • Tudorbethan • Muscovite Gothic • Moorish Revival • Indo-Saracenic |
| Neo-Renaissance: | Italianate • Second Empire • Chateauesque • Jacobethan |
| Neo-Baroque and 18th century: | Beaux-Arts • Wrenaissance • Queen Anne • Georgian Revival • Colonial Revival |
External links
- [The Scottish Baronial] – an introduction and illustrations of five notable examples.
- [Craigends] – a detailed study of "David Bryce's lost masterpiece", demolished in 1971.
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