Drumtochty Castle

Drumtochty Castle is a large castellated mansion designed by James Gillespie Graham circa 1810–12, with major additions undertaken in 1815–16 under the builder John Smith of Aberdeen, and further alterations probably also by Gillespie Graham in 1839, incorporating the old house of Woodstock. The building is Late Georgian in character, castellated almost throughout, rendered in ashlar facing with two storeys and an attic.

The main block features an entrance front on the east elevation. A square corner turret marks the left side, followed by a lower one-window bay with square-headed windows that links to a stepped tripartite entrance bay. The entrance itself is a four-centred arched porch with octagonal angle turrets, surmounted by a hood-moulded window of three pointed lights. To the right extends a tall single-storey three-window hall block with traceried four-centred arch three-light windows. The centre bay is raised and terminates in a square turret at the north-east angle.

The south front overlooks the valley and is dominated by a central three-window semi-circular tower with hood-moulded ground-floor windows and four-centred arched windows at the first and second floors. Above this rises a corbelled and crenellated parapet encircling an upper octagon with tall narrow openings and crenellated parapet fitted with narrow pepperpot angle turrets. Lower square clasping turrets with slit openings flank the tower. Two windows to the right link to the south-east corner turret, with four-centred arched windows. Three windows to the left feature arched windows in giant recesses, linking to a quatrefoil-plan three-storey south-west angle tower modelled after Caesar's Tower at Warwick, with tall narrow slit windows, two per segment.

The west elevation is centred on a turret feature of shallow projection, with a three-light staircase window with geometrical windows to the left and one bay of arched windows to the right; a pepperpot turret marks the north-west angle. Below this, a lower three-storey south-west wing returns west at right angles. The main part on the right displays generously spaced three windows, all four-centred arched. A higher one-bay section on the left contains small two-light windows, round-arched at the ground and second floors and trefoiled at the first; a taller square south-west angle turret with hood-moulded slits and a one-window gable with two-light hood-moulded and traceried square-headed windows concludes this section.

At a higher level, a two-storey square-plan north-west wing continues the sequence, with similar fenestration at ground floor and two-pointed arched lights in square recesses at the first floor. An octagonal corner turret with pointed slits caps the north-west angle.

The roofs are piended and slated, with diagonal shafted chimneys throughout. A modern stair tower has been inserted in the main block and north-west wing. Original glazing comprises wood traceried sashes, supplemented by stone tracery at the hall block to the north-east and at the north-west wing.

The interior contains a notable clerestoreyed and plaster-vaulted central hall. The building was extensively rehabilitated after its use as a preparatory school, with major works by Jenkins and Marr in 1974–75.

The house occupies a picturesque elevated site. The precise sequence of construction is not entirely certain, though the 1815–16 work must account for more than half the building—probably the western hall of the main block and the western and north-western wings, as specifications recorded 608 feet of embrasure caps; this phase must also include the upper stage of the central tower on the south front, indicated by references to the 'bulls' eyes' (oculi).