View from the South West of the dressing room of the Green bedroom Digital image of C/34813/cn

Description View from the South West of the dressing room of the Green bedroom Digital image of C/34813/cn

Date 27/4/1994

Catalogue Number SC 759623

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 34813 CN

Scope and Content North-west green bedroom dressing room, Newhailes, Musselburgh, East Lothian This shows the north-west green bedroom dressing room where a guest or family member would put their clothes on in the morning. The chimneypiece is surmounted with a gilded scallop shell and a pedimented mirror with a swag and a cross. To each side there are swags at the bottom and flowers suspended from bows flanking the triangular pediment. There is also a small plaque above the door. The wooden egg-shaped servants' bell-pull (lever), to the left of the fireplace, was connected by wires to a bell in the basement. Country houses could easily be fitted with a wire and lever bell-pull system by the end of the 18th century. Electric servant bell systems were developed in the late 19th century and were a vast improvement on the old system which was liable to become clogged with dust. James Smith (c.1645-1731) architect, designed and built Newhailes House (originally known as Whitehill) in 1686. Sir David Dalrymple (c.1665-1721) bought the estate in 1709 and started the construction of the library wing in 1718 which was completed after his death in 1721 by his son, Sir James Dalrymple (1692-1751). The house was modernised in 1871-3 when Lord Shand was tenant, and has remained largely unchanged since. The National Trust for Scotland became the owners of Newhailes House in January 1997. The house opened to the public on 1 June 2002 after a £12.7 million conservation project that ensured the house was stabilised without losing the patination of the interior decoration. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/759623

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap