Sir Basil Spence
Event ID 617429
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Sir Basil Spence
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/617429
Building Notes
Rowand Anderson, Paul and Partners were commissioned by Professor and Mrs Elliott to build a house in the Scottish tradition. The Peeblesshire location chosen was on the site of an earlier house belonging to Murray of Broughton, chosen by Mrs Elliot because of its historical significance; Murray of Broughton had been the secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart during the 1745 rebellion.
The practice submitted plans to the clients in September 1935 and won the competition to carry out the commission in November. Work began on site in August 1936 and was completed by the summer of 1938. Spence, a partner in the firm, worked closely with Mrs Elliot who wanted a romantic house built in the manner of Robert Lorimer's baronial revival houses.
Spence originally specified stone for the design but due to cost constraints it was built in brick and then harled to look like stone with stone itself only being used for details. The roof is made from timber covered in slate. The interior is treated in the spirit of the exterior with wood panelling and decorative plaster ceilings. The sculptor Hew Lorimer was commissioned to create a pair of relief panels and a pair of lion gateposts.
The house was later converted into flats with an art gallery on the ground floor.
Archive Details and Archive Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive contains two manuscript folders, 53 photographs and 27 drawings. The manuscript material includes a newscutting, which describes the gardens, and a sales brochure from the 1970s. The photographs include a series of interior and exterior images of the house by the Edinburgh photographer, Francis Caird Inglis. The drawings include plans, sections and elevations of alternative schemes, which were presented to Mrs Elliot.
The Spence Glover and Ferguson Collection, includes six photographs of Broughton Place and, the Ian G Lindsay Collection holds 11 drawings relating to the project. Both collections are held at RCAHMS.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
