Mount Stuart, Bute

Mount Stuart House, Bute

Mount Stuart is a monumental Gothic Revival mansion built to designs by Alexander McGill in 1718, substantially rebuilt following a devastating fire in 1877 by the architect Robert Rowand Anderson from 1878 onwards. The house comprises a square-plan four-storey central block with attic, seven bays wide, displaying elaborate Gothic detailing throughout. A porte-cochère projects at ground level to the left of centre. To the outer left, McGill's original two-storey, ten-bay north wing is set back from the main frontage. Behind this wing stands the chapel, added in 1896, featuring a bowed apse and a tapering lantern tower modelled on Saragossa Cathedral. On the south side, a single-storey gabled service wing projects forward to the outer right, with the kitchen court set behind (partly retaining McGill's early 18th-century fabric).

The McGill wings are finished in whitewashed harled rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings, raised base and eaves courses, and prominent quoins. Anderson's main block is built of coursed red sandstone ashlar, although the third floor employs timber-framed red brick construction. The façade displays raised base courses, architraved cill courses, and a corniced eaves line beneath an upper gallery comprising marble columns and ashlar balustrades. At ground level, windows have square heads with shouldered reveals and roll-moulded surrounds. The first floor features trefoil-headed bipartite windows set within pointed-arch surrounds. At the second floor, bipartite openings in pointed-arch surrounds have columnar mullions and reveals—a detail shared with the first floor. Architraved hoodmoulds cap many openings. The third floor has square-headed bipartite windows, above which rise gabled dormers with finials. Decorative ironmongery and intricate sandstone carving enrich every elevation.

The rear elevation presents a four-storey central block with attic, nine bays wide, with a small drawing room adjoining to the right. The three-stage chapel with tapering spire is recessed further to the outer right. To the outer left, a two-storey wing with attic, five bays wide, accommodates the library and swimming pool. Ground-floor openings have shouldered reveals set in square-headed surrounds. First-floor trefoil-headed bipartite windows have chamfered ashlar mullions and reveals, while the second floor employs columnar reveals and mullions. Corbelled balconies and corbelled oriels project at upper levels.

West (Entrance) Elevation

The main entrance block features a two-leaf boarded timber door at ground level in the bay to the outer left, with a blind trefoil-headed fanlight and pointed-arched, architraved surround. The buttressed porte-cochère advances from the façade, its pointed entrance arch set within a finialed gable. A balustraded parapet crowns the porte-cochère, with sculptured lions positioned to the outer left and right. Foliate bosses ornament the inner quadripartite rib-vaults. Above the entrance arch, tripartite windows rise at the first and second floors (with two stages at the first floor), and two bipartite openings sit behind the galleried eaves above. Two-leaf, part-glazed timber panelled doors occupy the ground floor offset to left and right of centre—the left-hand door has foliate carving set in a lightly roll-moulded surround, while the right-hand door sits in a shouldered opening. Bipartite and tripartite windows fill the remaining bays at ground level. The first floor has three large bipartite openings centred, with smaller bipartite windows in the penultimate bays to outer left and right and the bay to outer right. Small square-headed bipartite windows appear at the second stage in the penultimate bay to outer right and bay to outer right. The second floor has two single windows centred, each with a single voussoir arch, and large bipartite openings in the remaining bays to left and right. The third floor is regularly fenestrated behind the galleried eaves, with bargeboarded gabled dormers aligned above.

The north wing has a part-glazed timber door at ground level, offset to the left of centre, with a single window aligned above. Large segmental-arched windows occupy the ground floor in the penultimate bay to outer left and bay to outer left. The remaining bays to the right are regularly fenestrated at both floors, though the bay to outer right is blind at ground level.

The south wing has a projecting five-light window in the bay to outer left, with ashlar astragals and mullions, and a pointed-arched window aligned beneath the apex. A bipartite opening at ground level occupies the penultimate bay to outer left, with a square-headed bipartite window centred beneath the apex. The remaining bays to the right are regularly fenestrated at ground and attic levels.

East (Rear) Elevation

The main block has a part-glazed two-leaf timber panelled door at ground level, offset to the right of centre. Corbelled balconies are centred at the first and second floors. Buttressed, trefoil-headed oriels project at the second floor in the penultimate bays to outer left and right. The remaining bays at centre, left and right are regularly fenestrated at all floors.

The south wing features a segmental-arched pend opening at ground level in the bay to outer right, regularly fenestrated above. Small windows occupy the slightly canted central bay at ground level, with a tripartite oriel aligned at the first floor. A balustraded parapet caps this section, and a gabled tripartite window breaks through the eaves above. Arcaded openings at ground level occupy the remaining bays to the left of centre, with a pointed-arched loggia opening at the first floor to the left of the oriel and a small bipartite window aligned above. Regular fenestration appears at the first and second floors in the bays to the outer left.

The north wing has small windows at ground level in the bay adjoining the main block, with a corbelled balcony aligned at the first floor. This balcony comprises decorative iron columns beneath a glazed canopy and a red ashlar columnar balustrade. A roof-top conservatory sits above.

The chapel features a slightly advanced, gabled bay to the left of centre, with small trefoil-headed windows at ground level, a geometric-traceried window aligned at the second stage, and a tripartite opening centred beneath the apex above, flanked by crocketed pinnacles. The vaulted octagonal tower has regularly-disposed pointed-arch openings, a balustraded parapet, crocketed finials, and a tapering, gableted lantern set behind. Regularly-disposed windows are set between buttresses in the bowed apse to the outer right.

The McGill wings retain twelve-pane and sixteen-pane timber sash and case glazing, while the main block has predominantly leaded glazing. The central hall clerestorey features stained glass illustrating the Signs of the Zodiac by H W Lonsdale, executed by William Worrall of Saunders & Co. Heraldic mosaics above the entrance display the arms of the three earldoms of Bute—Bute, Dumfries and Windsor. The roof is of grey slate with decorative wrought-iron rainwater goods. Corniced ashlar ridge and wallhead stacks serve the McGill wings, while coped red ashlar ridge stacks with circular cans serve the later additions.

Interior

The interior decoration was undertaken by Charles Campbell and H W Lonsdale. Stone carving is by Thomas Nicholls, and stained glass is predominantly by William Worrall of Saunders & Co to H W Lonsdale's designs.

The hall is marble-lined, incorporating pink-flushed alabaster, emperor's red and pavonazzetto marbles. A grey Sicilian pointed-arched Gothic ambulatory comprises cipollino columns with naturalistic capitals carved by Thomas Nicholls, depicting thistles, vines, roses and oak leaves. Bronze grilles at gallery level were copied by Anderson from Charlemagne's tomb in Aachen and cast by R Laidlaw & Son in 1897. Twelve Carrara marble statues on columnar plinths are regularly disposed around the gallery. Glass stars representing the constellations are set in a decorative, groin-vaulted ceiling painted by Campbell. Various stained glass windows complete the scheme.

The dining room features extensive timber panelling by William Frame, a carved dado frieze, mid 18th-century fireplaces and a timber ceiling.

The Horoscope Room served as the third Marquess of Bute's bedroom. It has extensive timber dado panelling by William Frame. The astrological ceiling depicts plants and birds in the outer panels, with a three-dimensional castellated circular frieze surrounding a central depiction of the astrological position of the planets at the birth of the third Marquess of Bute. This ceiling was executed temporarily on tissue paper by Campbell and made permanent in the late 20th century by Tom Errington.

The drawing room is subdivided by marble columnar screens to form three sections. The principal fireplace was designed by Rowand Anderson in 1896. A decorative frieze and coloured ceiling with heraldic emblems set in panels complete the decoration.

The swimming pool has marble columns centred in the pool, supporting a Gothic quadripartite rib-vaulted ceiling with polychrome detailing. The pool is lined with glazed tiles. A trefoil-headed opening leads to a separate octagonal-columned, vaulted changing area.

The marble chapel has white marble-lined walls by Farmer & Brindley, with engaged columns and foliate capitals. Architraved, pointed-arched openings punctuate the walls. The chapel contains a bronze altar, an intricately carved timber organ surround, and mosaic and marble Cosmati floor work. The crimson-glazed octagonal tower is modelled on Saragossa Cathedral.