Aberlour House
Country House (19th Century), School (20th Century)
Site Name Aberlour House
Classification Country House (19th Century), School (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Gordonstoun Junior School; Aberlour House Policies; Walkers Shoirtbread Offices
Canmore ID 16364
Site Number NJ24SE 17
NGR NJ 27939 43614
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/16364
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Moray
- Parish Aberlour
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Banffshire
NJ24SE 17.00 27939 43614
NJ24SE 17.01 27479 43530 West Lodge
NJ24SE 17.02 2805 4320 Home Farm
NJ24SE 17.03 2775 4295 Upper Mains
NJ24SE 17.04 27978 43578 Stable Offices
NJ24SE 17.05 28086 43399 Chef's House
NJ24SE 17.06 28062 43330 Gardeners' Cottage
NJ24SE 17.07 28106 43370 Walled Garden
NJ24SE 17.08 28189 43973 East Lodge
NJ24SE 17.09 27843 43734 Column
NJ24SE 17.10 28061 43324 Westermost
NJ24SE 17.11 2810 4380 Estate Bridge (Bridge of Allachoy)
For Moor Cottage (NJ 2966 4392) and Bluehill Quarry (centred NJ 2897 4361), see NJ24SE 107 and NJ24SE 108 respectively.
Second part of TBS description
Miss Macpherson Grant died in 1877 but who owned the estate between her death and 1885 when John Ritchie Findlay bought it is uncertain. The plans illustrated were drawn up c.1879 presumably for the sale of the estate. Findlay immediately employed his friend Arthur G Sydney Mitchell to make proposals for the gardens, which were not carried out (SMW 1880/23/3/8) but a variety of minor internal alterations were carried out 1885-6 including a very necessary draft lobby at the front door. Mitchell also created extra bedrooms and better circulation in the service quarters. Between 1886 and 1892 Findlay made extensive alterations and additions to the house including extending the original drawing room to create a larger dining room and adding a large new drawing room to the east as well as creating a new billiard room. The original dining room was fitted up as a library perhaps adapting earlier fittings. The architect of this work is unknown but in 1892-3 he employed Robert Lorimer to decorate the interiors. The RCAHMS holds extensive records of various schemes but the work carried out includes the marble floor in the hall, the panelling of the main east-west corridor, the unusual chimneypiece in the dining room and various plaster adornments. The library was also embellished with new upper bookcases along with a very fine chimneypiece with inset antique roundels. There are no drawings for the library in the RCAHMS collections. Stylistically this refit could be attributed to F W Deas a great friend of Lorimers who did extensive work in Morayshire see for example the Kellas Lodge.survey.
The Findlay family sold the house which was turned into Aberlour House Preparatory School. Few major alterations were made except the infilling of the east service courtyard and the conversion of the stable block into classrooms. Various ancillary buildings were added but the house remaine largely unaltered. The school closed in 2005 and the house was bought by Walkers Shortbread Ltd and is now their offices. The Walkers have embarked on a major restoration of the main house, have demolished some ancilliary buildings and have yet to embark on the restoration of the stable block.
RCAHMS STG
NMRS REFERENCE:
Architect: William Robertson, Elgin - 1838
Reginald Fairlie 1939 (additions)
Alexander Ross - additions (I.C. March 30, 1876) Rest & adds
Plans:
Dick Peddie & MacKay, Edinburgh alts
Bin 31, bag 1 122 George Street 1885-6
Dick Peddie & MacKay, Edinburgh new lodge & gates & terrace
Bin 31, Bag 1 122 George Street 1885
Publication Account (2007)
The Threatened Building Survey of Aberlour House has been carried out because of the change of ownership of this important A listed house and in advance of the alterations and demolitions necessary to convert the buildings to office use. The opportunity has been taken to relate the extensive holdings on the house in RCAHMS Collections to what was actually carried out. The survey consists of a graphic record of the house, which will amend the existing c.1879 survey and be date-hatched. The photographic survey will include the house, stables, game larders, lodges, bridges, designed landscape, gardens, column and walled gardens.
William Robertson of Elgin designed Aberlour House in 1838 for Mr Alexander Grant. Grant had made a fortune in the West Indies, and commissioned his new house on a prominent site with spectacular views of the Spey. The original house, which consisted of the 5 bay symmetrical front or north block, was never inhabited. Alexander Grant died in 1854 and Miss Margaret Gordon Macpherson, his niece, inherited ‘the beautiful little estate of Aberlour and a fortune of fully a quarter of a million’. She added Grant to her name, and employed A and W Reid, William Robertson’s nephews, to complete the house to a greatly extended plan. They were involved with works on the estate from 1854 until 1868; they added the porte-cochere in 1857, and enlarged the service accommodation to incorporate a top-lit ballroom, now the staff restaurant; they appear to have added the bay windows to the drawing and dining rooms. They also built the fine stable block and the Italianate West Lodge. Their uncle had probably designed the neo-classical East Lodge and erected the magnificent memorial column.
Miss Macpherson Grant died in 1877, but the ownership of the estate between her death and 1885, when John Ritchie Findlay bought it, is uncertain. The plans illustrated were drawn up c.1879 presumably in relationship to the sale of the estate. Findlay immediately employed his friend Arthur G Sydney Mitchell to make proposals for the gardens, which were not realised (SMW 1880/23/3/8), but a variety of minor internal alterations were made in 1885–6, including a very necessary draught lobby at the front door. Mitchell also created extra bedrooms, and arranged better circulation in the service quarters. Between 1886 and 1892 Findlay made extensive alterations and additions to the house, which included extending the original drawing room to create a larger dining room and adding a large new drawing room to the east, as well as creating a new billiard room. The original dining room was fitted up as a library, perhaps adapting earlier fittings. The architect of this work is unknown, but in 1892-3 he employed Robert Lorimer to decorate the interiors. The RCAHMS holds extensive records of various schemes, but the work carried out includes the marble floor in the hall, the panelling of the main east–west corridor, the unusual chimneypiece in the dining room and various plaster adornments. The library was also embellished with new upper bookcases, along with a very fine chimneypiece with inset antique roundels. There are no drawings for the library in the RCAHMS collections. Stylistically this refit could be attributed to F W Deas, a great friend of Lorimer, who did extensive work in Morayshire. See for example the Kellas Lodge Survey.
The Findlay family sold the house after World War II, and it was turned into Aberlour House Preparatory School. Few major alterations were made except for the infilling of the east service courtyard and the conversion of the stable block into classrooms. Various ancillary buildings were added, but the house remained largely unaltered. The school closed in 2005, and the house was bought by Walkers Shortbread Ltd and is now their offices. The Walkers have embarked on a major restoration of the main house, have demolished some ancillary buildings and propose to embark on the restoration of the stable block.
Information from ‘Commissioners’ Field Meeting 2007'.
