Interior view of sitting room/Italian Room. Digital image of ED 1945.

Description Interior view of sitting room/Italian Room. Digital image of ED 1945.

Date 6/5/1958

Catalogue Number SC 774524

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 1945

Scope and Content Italian Room, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows the Italian Room with its panelled walls and inset panel paintings by the Norie family, Edinburgh housepainters who worked on several other rooms in the house. The fireplace (right) is made of stone with a deep moulded surround, and is flanked by Ionic pilasters. A bookcase with arched top can be seen on the left, flanked by carved wooden mirrors. Oriental rugs are placed on the floorboards. The Norie panels in the Italian Room are oil paintings on wooden boards, and show Italianate landscapes, a subject which was very fashionable in the mid-18th century. The paintings were commissioned by Sir Alexander Dick to commemorate a journey he made to Italy in 1736. When they were being cleaned, one of the panels was found to have small holes which turned out to be gunshot! Prestonfield House was rebuilt for Sir James Dick in 1687 by 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.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap