Fettercairn House

Fettercairn House is a large country house of various dates and styles. The original core of the house is a long, rectangular building of two storeys and an attic, dated 1 E M (1670) and G M, with a smaller addition at the south-south-west end. A crowstepped projection on the east-south-east flank originally contained a spiral stair. This original section has been incorporated into a substantial, single-storey and basement Jacobethan mansion, designed by William Burn between 1826 and 1829, with its main frontage facing west-north-west.

The main block follows a semi-symmetrical design, dominated by an advanced two-storey entrance tower with octagonal angle turrets. The first floor features an oriel window and a shaped gable, flanked by rectangular bays with mullioned windows and shaped gables above. The south-south-west frontage has a large bay with a shaped gable over the addition, with the original gable re-faced and featuring square, ogee turrets. A lower north-north-east wing has gablets over the windows. Parts of the original east-south-east front have been remodelled, incorporating a bay window, cantilever balconies flanking the old stair projection, a dormer, and parapet detail. The original rubble stonework of the early house is exposed, while newer sections are built in red ashlar. The roofs are slated, and there are shafted chimneys.

An addition was built at a right angle to the old house in 1877 by Wardrop and Reid; this is a two-storey and attic structure with a circular, conical-roofed tower and shaped gables. The interior is noteworthy, featuring a high, rib-vaulted entrance hall, a ribbed stair ceiling with a lantern light, and ribbed ceilings in the drawing and dining rooms – the former being more elaborate with a caryatid chimneypiece. The library, located within the original house, has an enriched frieze, added in 1898 by Robert S Lorimer.

The original house was built for John, Earl Middleton, and Grizel Durham. The new house was begun by Sir William Stuart Forbes (died 1823) and completed for his son, Sir John H S Forbes. The 1877 work was commissioned by Lord Clinton, who inherited the property through marriage in 1866. Drawings by William Burn are held in the NMRS, and the property has been described by Cameron and in the New Statistical Account.