Desk Based Assessment

Date October 2010 - January 2011

Event ID 964901

Category Recording

Type Desk Based Assessment

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/964901

NO 12637 02044 A conservation plan was prepared, October 2010–January 2011, in advance of internal and external conservation work. Kinross House is the single most important project of Sir William Bruce. The house was the first in Scotland to introduce certain ideas of state apartment planning taken from France, and incorporated the latest ideas from Palladio, re-emerging during the Restoration. The laying out of the grounds began 1679 and building work followed in the 1680s. However, Bruce’s political, social and economic standing deteriorated, and the house was never completed.

The research was able to demonstrate that Bruce’s Great Dining Room had been a double cube room, again derived from Palladio, and comparable to rooms executed by Inigo Jones before the Civil War. However, possibly during mid-19th-century repairs to the roof, the ceiling was lowered, and the musician’s gallery blocked. The space was further compromised by a new enriched plaster ceiling designed by Thomas Ross in c1906.

The greatest period of change at Kinross was under Sir Basil Montgomery, who inherited the house in c1900. One of the most significant discoveries was the involvement of Sir Robert Lorimer, from 1899–1902. His greatest contribution was alterations to the panelled entrance hall; here evidence confirming Bruce’s original layout was also identified. Thomas Ross subsequently took over the work after 1902. The house remained largely unchanged in the 20th century.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: First Sight Estates Ltd

Simpson and Brown Architects, 2011