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Publication Account

Date 2007

Event ID 1022535

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022535

This irregular Z-plan sixteenth century tower house is built on the flood plain of the River Spey. It does not occupy a particularly defensible site and its building represents more settled times, although the building still maintained a martial face. About 1718 the two-storeyed kitchen wing was added, and about 1770 a matching wing was constructed, containing a new dining room on the ground floor with drawing room, library and a bedroom above.

In the later 1820s William Playfair prepared the plans and models for two schemes for a new house for Sir John Grant Macpherson. These were not executed as a consequence of the Muckle Spate of 1829, which necessitated over £8,000 being spent on flood repairs. The same Sir John employed William Robertson to make additions to Invereshie House in about 1830. In 1847 Mackenzie and Matthews of Elgin were employed to survey the existing castle and make proposals for alterations; Thomas Mackenzie had been William Robertson's principal assistant. The first scheme proposed a new entrance in the courtyard, the second a mini twin-towered Fyvie Castle entrance front, and the third scheme, which was as executed, included a simpler entrance at the base of an original tower in a Huntly Castle-inspired door case.

The main block was heightened and baronially adorned, but the ground plan remained largely the same. The biggest addition was the new service courtyard, where the Commissioners will have lunch. The interior was completely remodelled; the entrance hall was adorned with an umbrella vault, perhaps inspired by the staircase at Fyvie Castle. A new staircase was installed giving access to the added upper floors. In the c.1770 wing the dining room was converted into a billiard room, with the smoking room beyond; from here a turnpike stair went up to the new library with its dramatic oriel window on the first floor. The rest of the first floor was occupied by the new drawing room. The first floor bedroom was originally the Great Hall, and its ante-room was transformed into a dining room. The plasterwork in dining and drawing rooms was taken from moulds of the Craigievar Great Hall ceiling. The State Room fireplace at Huntly Castle inspired the fireplace in the dining room. A new floor of bedrooms was added above the drawing room.

This information is drawn from the extensive and lavishly illustrated report written by Thomas Mackenzie, a copy of which is held in RCAHMS Collections. It was compiled on the death of Sir John Grant Macpherson, so that his heir's trustees could know what had been done and what was to be done. The report includes a survey of the house before works started and the alternatiuve schemes. It forms a unique record of a building project in the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1878 a bedroom wing was added in front of the service wing. This was demolished in 1975 and the Victorian drawing room was converted into two bedrooms and the billiard room converted into the present drawing room.

Information from 'Commissioners' Field Meeting 2007'.

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