Detail of the fireplace in the Chinese Drawing room Digital image of C/34744/cn

Description Detail of the fireplace in the Chinese Drawing room Digital image of C/34744/cn

Date 27/4/1994

Catalogue Number SC 759624

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 34744 CN

Scope and Content Chimneypiece in Chinese drawing room, Newhailes, Musselburgh, East Lothian This shows the chimneypiece with a mirror and a portrait of Sir David Dalrymple, Bart which are framed within a border of gilded scallop shells. Throughout the house there are gilded shells that are either real or made of wood and plaster. There is a bell-pull (lever) underneath the bookshelves to the right which was connected by wires to a bell in the basement. If this bell-pull was rung, a bell in the basement would move and sound showing that a servant was needed in this room. 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/759624

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap