Interior. View of bed recess on first floor of West pavilion. Digital image of C 43640.

Description Interior. View of bed recess on first floor of West pavilion. Digital image of C 43640.

Date 25/5/1994

Catalogue Number SC 769812

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 43639 CN

Scope and Content Bedroom on first floor of west pavilion, Arniston House, Midlothian This shows a simply decorated room above the stable pavilion which was later converted to a garage. The room's main feature is the arched bed recess, which would have afforded some protection from the cold for the servants who (probably) shared this room. Through the doorway on the left can be seen a fitted press. The window to the right has shutters to further insulate the room from cold, light and noise. Servants in large houses in both the town and country were expected to live and work out of view of the family they served for most of the day. Whilst the family rooms were lavishly furnished and well lit by large windows, servants' bedrooms were usually in the cold attic spaces, and they worked during the day in dark basement kitchens. Arniston House, the seat of the Dundas family, was built in the Palladian style from 1726 onwards by architect William Adam (1689-1748) on the site of a c.1600 U-plan tower-house. His son John (1721-92) added the west wing and orangery in 1753. The house was further altered during the 19th century, and comprises a central three-storeyed block with flanking two-storeyed service pavilions joined to the main building by two-storeyed links. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/769812

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap