Recording Your Heritage Online
Event ID 562915
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Recording Your Heritage Online
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/562915
Wardhouse, (?) from 1757. Grand Palladian mansion, spectacularly sited and perhaps created to rival Haddo, which it
readily surpasses. Small datestone high on centre front states: (A)RTHUR'S SEAT BUILT IN THE YEAR 1757-17..., a reference to the instigator, Arthur Gordon, and to John Hardyng's verse on his map of c.1465 which describes King Arthur having held his court at 'Donydoure' (Dunnideer). This date has led to suggestions that John Douglas may have been the architect, although the building's form and energy suggest earlier, (?)John Adam, times. Locally pronounced Wardis, this is symmetrical about a stylish two-storey and full basement centre block with a pedimented centre raised above the wallhead, in a curious slatey ashlar. Grand central first-floor window with Gibbsian surround; staircase in
half-hexagon bow to rear; single-storey quadrants link to square, two-storey wings, the east one much extended. Restoration scheme, Acanthus Douglas Forrest, began 2005.
Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
