The Drum, Gilmerton, Edinburgh

The Drum, Gilmerton, Edinburgh

A Palladian mansion designed by William Adam for Lord Somerville between 1726 and 1734. The house incorporates a western pavilion containing part of an earlier house built by John Mylne in 1584–5 (an eastern pavilion was intended but never constructed). Nineteenth-century additions were made to the rear of the pavilion. The house sits within landscaped grounds originally laid out by William Adam.

The main structure comprises a compact 3-bay pedimented centre block, two storeys over a basement, built in cream polished ashlar. The basement is channelled, while the ground and first floors are rusticated. Gibbs surrounds frame the openings, and the building features a base course, band course, cill courses, deep entablature, and dentilled cornice. The pedimented advanced central bay breaks through a stone balustrade topped with urns. The sides and rear are harled with polished ashlar dressings. The wing has a piend roof with simple frieze and cornice, and is harled. Timber sash and case windows throughout feature predominantly 18-pane glazing.

The southeast front elevation has an advanced pedimented central bay with a late 18th-century stone perron stair leading to the entrance at ground-floor level. Two windows to the basement sit behind an arch supporting the forestair; additional basement windows occupy the outer bays. The ground-floor door is half glazed, flanked by windows forming a tripartite composition with a consoled frieze and segmentally arched pediment above. Windows to the outer bays open onto this floor. The first floor displays rusticated pilasters and a central Venetian window with engaged Doric columns, with windows to the outer bays. The Somerville arms are quartered with the Bayntum arms in the tympanum. Urns crown the pediment dies and the termini of the stone balustrade. Single-storey structures over basement link the wings, which are harled and each contain a door and windows to the basement. A shell niche flanked by two windows appears at first-floor level on each wing. The link to the northeast has a 2-bay addition with two windows to the front (marked with stone rosettes above) and two windows to the north return.

The southwest wing adjoins the western pavilion. It is square on plan with a piend roof and a single storey over a tall basement; the tall basement height results from the incorporation of an earlier vaulted ground floor from 1585. The structure is of rubble, originally harled. A 3-bay front and northeast return each display three windows at each floor. First-floor windows are tall, with a round-arched central window; small square windows light the attic.

The northwest rear elevation forms the garden front. A central advanced, piended, canted bay rises through two floors over the basement, with a swept stone stair leading to a pedimented doorway at ground-floor level. Windows flank the doorway and a round-arched window with flanking windows appears at the first floor. A small segmental-arched timber dormer lights the attic. Outer bays contain a window at each floor; a small bull's-eye window (possibly a later addition) appears at first-floor level to the right of the centre bay. Broad, corniced corner dies frame the composition. A 3-bay link to the left features central bipartite windows with flanking windows at each floor. A harled stair tower stands to the rear of the western pavilion. Nineteenth-century harled additions comprise a lower 2-storey piend-roofed addition adjoining the link and a 2-storey piend-roofed 3-bay harled addition adjoining the pavilion, with three windows at each floor to the northwest.

The southwest elevation is formed by the pavilion return and the later 19th-century 2-storey addition, which enclose a cobbled service courtyard bounded by an ashlar-coped wall and ashlar gate piers with simple cast-iron gates. The pavilion contains a late 18th-century blind doorway with an ornamental corniced surround and niche above at first-floor level, flanked by canted bays through two floors. Small windows light the attic. A modern swimming pool to the southwest is covered and linked to the addition by a polythene tunnel.

The northeast elevation displays five bays. The link adjoins at ground and basement level with two small basement windows and three tall round-headed windows at ground floor. Five windows occupy the first floor, with a central round-headed window. Broad, corniced corner dies complete the composition.

Interior

The ground floor contains a grand vestibule and stair hall that forms part of a processional route to the state apartments on the first floor. Ornate Baroque plasterwork, executed circa 1736 by Samuel Calderwood, adorns the ground floor. The hall features a coved ceiling with heavy dentilled cornice and a view through a triumphal archway to the stairwell beyond. The entrance doorway is framed by an Ionic screen, mirrored in the Ionic surround to an arched opening to the stairwell. To the right stands a chimneypiece with egg-and-dart moulded surround, acanthus frieze, and a large trophy above comprising the Somerville and Rotherham arms. Stucco cartouches appear above all doors opening off the hall, with large trophies within arches at ceiling level. All doors are six raised and fielded panels. The floor is tiled in marble.

The dining room (currently in use as a drawing room) occupies the ground floor to the left. An Ionic order frames a basket-arched screen to a southern recess and a pedimented overmantel of grey marble flanked by doors with white marble architraves. Stucco panelling displays family portraits, each with sculpted panels or trophies above, including a depiction of Europa and the bull, with the bull metamorphosed into a Somerville dragon. The dentilled cornice and deep diapered cove with corner acanthus leaves frame a ceiling bordered with scrolls and corner rosettes, with the recess behind the screen panelled with rosettes. More restrained decoration appears in the library to the right at the rear and in a panelled room to the front (currently in use as dining room), which contains a grey marble fireplace of the Adam period and a ceiling probably dating from 1860. A bedroom in the eastern link features cusp-panelled cupboard doors and an overmantel panel painting of a grotto with statues above the fireplace; a later grate has been inserted in the angle.

The stairwell was restored in 1991. Walls are white painted, rusticated at ground floor and panelled at first floor with gilded low-relief foliate ornament to panels and doorpieces. The ceiling is painted blue with a central gilded rose. A cantilevered flying stair features polished mahogany treads and barley-sugar balusters. The stair is lit by a Venetian window at first-floor level. An archway at the head of the stair contains a gilded keystone, and the arch recess contains a circular service stair.

First-floor plasterwork is by Thomas Clayton and displays lighter, Rococo character. The drawing room (currently in use as a ballroom) extends along the entire side of the house. It was replastered in the late 18th century and is currently painted blue with a white ceiling. An Ionic-order Venetian window to the east is lit above by swags; single windows to north and south have broken pediments above. Stucco panelled walls feature a dado frieze. A fireplace to the west wall contains a grey marble lugged surround with consoled frieze and a framed overmantel relief depicting Neptune drawn by seahorses. A dentilled cornice frames a coved ceiling with scrolls, foliage, and stucco swans; the soffit is divided into three sections with a central octagonal relief of Jupiter and Juno. A small drawing room to the centre is lit by a large Venetian window, Corinthianised in the late 18th century; the chimneypiece and plain ceiling oval also date from this period. The principal bedchamber and dressing room to the east retain original stucco ceilings. A later stair replacing a William Adam stair in the western link leads to the west pavilion. Stone groin-vaulted rooms at ground floor flank a thick chimney wall; their floor is 3 feet below ground level and originally formed part of the earlier Mylne house of 1584–5. A room extending across the front is used as a kitchen and contains a central supporting column, possibly of later date. Upper floors date from the late 18th century.

A baluster-type sundial, possibly dating to circa 1700, with a shaft enriched with flowers, is sited to the west of the house.