Interior-general view of Dining Room

Description Interior-general view of Dining Room

Date 1903

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number SC 736830

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of BL 17909

Scope and Content Dining Room, Finlaystone House, Inverclyde (presently the home of the Chief of the Clan MacMillan and his family) Finlaystone House, originally built as a tower-house for the Dennistoun family in the late 14th century, was rebuilt and extended in 1746 by John Douglas as a handsome early Georgian mansion house for William, 12th Earl of Glencairn. In 1898-1903 the house was remodelled and refurbished in a grand style by the architect, Sir John James Burnet, for George Kidston, chairman of the Clyde Shipping Company. The interior was photographed by the architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, shortly after the refurbishment was completed in 1903. The dining room, in rich dark colours, has a new canted bay (right) to provide the room with a serving recess. The ceiling is compartmented by stained timber beams, and the room is dominated by a black marble fireplace over which hangs a large painting of Fingal's Cave, Staffa. The table, elaborately set, is lit by candles with shades, and the principal chair (centre) has a matching footstool. The room has electric light wall fittings, and has been wired for a central electrolier although it has not yet been fitted. Harry Bedford Lemere's photograph shows that in the early 1900s fashionable Scottish dining rooms were still being lit by candlelight, although electric light was available. Candelabra were often positioned on the sideboard in front of a glass mirror, and candles, usually with shades, were used to light the dining table. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap