Interior. View of second floor room fireplace with seascape overmantel.

Description Interior. View of second floor room fireplace with seascape overmantel.

Date c. 1950 to 1960

Collection Papers of George Hay, architect, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number B 38796

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 774382

Scope and Content Fireplace in the Cunyngham Room, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows the fireplace in the Cunyngham bedroom with its deep moulded stone surround and panelling. The 18th-century overmantel painting depicts a castle perched on rocks above a stormy sea by a member of the Norie family of artists. To the left of the fireplace can be seen a bell-pull, which would have been used to summon servants to the room. The Norie family worked in other rooms in the house, most notably on a series of panel paintings in the 'Italian Room'. The painters would have also simulated marble effects on pillars and columns in the rooms, creating a very rich and layered decorative effect. Prestonfield House was rebuilt for Sir James Dick in 1687 by the architect Sir William Bruce (c.1630-1710) after being burnt down during a student riot in 1681. A single-storeyed extension was added in c.1830, and in 1890 architects MacGibbon & Ross added a bathroom extension. Within the grounds is an unusual circular stable block built in 1816 to designs by James Gillespie Graham (1777-1855). The house has been run as a hotel since 1959. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Accession Number 1991/27

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