Detail of decorative ceiling in the cupid room of Prestonfield House.

Description Detail of decorative ceiling in the cupid room of Prestonfield House.

Date 6/5/1958

Collection Records of the Scottish National Buildings Record, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 774501

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 1933

Scope and Content Detail of 'Cupid Room' ceiling, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows the ornate 17th-century plaster ceiling, which was once part of an open gallery, with a large suspended Cupid (the god of love) originally seen from 7.62m below. The room was created when the gallery ceiling was floored over in 1817 as part of the remodelling work undertaken by Sir Robert Keith Dick Cunyngham. This plasterwork ceiling has been attributed to the 'Italian gentlemen modellers' who are supposed to have worked on the house after they finished the interiors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse (also designed by Sir William Bruce). However, the more vigorous, naïve style of the Prestonfield House work suggests that it may have been their Scottish assistants who worked on this project. 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 round 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/774501

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap