Preston Hall

Preston Hall is a classical country house designed by Robert Mitchell and built between 1791 and 1800. It is a two-storey building with an attic and basement, consisting of a seven-bay main block (the corps-de-logis) flanked by one-and-a-half-storey three-bay links, which in turn terminate in one-and-a-half-storey wing pavilions. The building is constructed in ashlar with rusticated ground-floor quoins, architraved windows with projecting sills, and a mutuled cornice. Balustrades are also in ashlar, and the south elevation features Coade stone ornamentation.

Historical Background

The site was originally occupied by a house of around 1700, built for Roderick Mackenzie, Lord Prestonhall, to which William Adam made additions in 1740 — recorded in Vitruvius Scoticus, plates 107 and 108. In the mid-1780s, the house and estate were purchased by Alexander Callander, a wealthy Indian nabob who also owned the Crichton estate. The pleasure grounds and rides were already established, but the old house had become structurally unsound and was to be replaced entirely rather than repaired. Robert Mitchell, originally from Aberdeen but practising in London, was commissioned to design the new house and its estate buildings, most of which survive. The old house was demolished, and the foundation stone of the new structure was laid with some ceremony on Friday 18th March 1791.

Contemporaries widely regarded the front (south) elevation as dated in its formula. The corps-de-logis closely resembles a plate in Robert Morris's An Essay in the Defence of Ancient Architecture (1728). The rear (north) elevation, by contrast, was a neoclassical astylar composition of differing rectangles, each appearing distinct from its neighbour. It has been suggested that this contrast arose because Callander had been out of the country for much of the mid-18th century; on his return, he favoured the architectural style he remembered for the principal front, while Mitchell was given a freer hand at the rear. It has further been suggested that the pavilions may in fact be the work of William Adam and survive in a cut-down and remodelled form from the earlier house on the site, though they have since been extended and altered. Preston Hall is considered the most important surviving work by Robert Mitchell.

South (Former Entrance, Now Rear) Elevation

The advanced corps-de-logis rises two storeys over a regularly fenestrated five-bay rusticated basement. The main block is seven bays wide. At the centre, three bays are framed by a pedimented centrepiece with pilasters flanking the windows and supporting a triangular moulded pediment, with a circular window at the centre. A horseshoe stair rises to a door at first-floor level, with windows to the flanks and above; a further door at basement level is set within the horseshoe. Paired regular fenestration extends to the flanks. A balustraded parapet and bracketed cornice conceal the roofline. The left and right returns of the corps-de-logis adjoin the links at piano nobile level, each with a pedimented tripartite window to the south bays and four regularly placed bays to the upper floor, most of which are blind, with the exception of the third bay on the left return and the central bays on the right.

The links are single-storey on a rusticated basement, each symmetrically composed with three bays. The advanced central bay of each link carries classical Coade stone decoration above, with paired columns and pilasters to the flanks supporting a rectangular plinth, surmounted by a reclining figure of an ancient warrior. The pavilions are single-storey and five bays wide, set on rusticated basements with blind panels above. Regular fenestration is used throughout, with pilasters flanking a round-arched central bay and a bracketed cornice. A balustraded parapet at the centre carries square clock features, open cupolas, and weathervanes; vases are placed to the flanks, though only a single vase to the east of the east wing now remains. The east and west returns have irregular plans and windows, forming later modern accommodation around service courtyards.

North (Now Principal) Elevation

The corps-de-logis here is two storeys with attic and rusticated basement, again seven bays wide. A square porch of around 1832 adjoins the central bay at piano nobile level, featuring an architraved entrance with a triangular pediment and single-bay returns to the ground floor and basement. Architraved arched windows flank the portico, with architraved rectangular windows to the two outer bays. Seven regular bays run across the upper floor. A bracketed cornice and balustraded parapet are surmounted by a raised solid central parapet containing three small windows, with three windows to the upper floors of each return.

The links adjoin the centre of the returns at piano nobile level and are three bays wide and single-storey on a basement, with the east link being of double width. They are partially concealed behind single-storey curved walls adjoining the pavilions to the main house, each wall having a door opening into the courtyard adjacent to the main block. The wings were originally two storeys and single bay in width, each featuring an architraved tripartite window with projecting sill and lintel and a smaller rectangular window above, a bracketed cornice with a central rectangular pediment, and a decorative urn at the apex. Both wings are five bays deep. The east wing has since been extended with a regularly fenestrated five-bay north elevation; the west wing is of an irregular L-plan. Later additions and alterations have been made to the internal courtyards.

Windows and Roof

Windows to the piano nobile and above are 12-pane timber sash and case; nine-pane and six-pane sash and case windows are used to the wings and basement. The roof is piended and platformed, covered in grey slate with lead ridging, and concealed lead rainwater goods serve most of the building. Tall ashlar chimney stacks serve the main house, with paired wallhead stacks to the returns of the corps-de-logis and the pavilions, featuring projecting neck copes and tall cans.

Interior

The piano nobile contains many formal rooms. The hall and staircase feature white and gilt decoration, open ironwork balustrades of Greek design, screens of Corinthian columns, and Coade stone female figures in classical drapery holding lamps. The double-height hall has a first-floor gallery; arches filled with fan-shaped lunettes support a circular lantern. Around 1830, the scheme was elaborated with pendentives of the dome and open wall spaces painted with arabesque ornament and groups and landscapes in the style of Watteau. Interiors were carried out by David Roberts in 1830 and by Wallace and McFarlane in 1860, the latter working on the drawing room. Original door-cases survive throughout, as do ceilings with paintings of musical instruments and allegorical subjects in the drawing room, cornices, and fireplaces of white marble. The rooms in the west and east wings have been largely stripped due to rot and replaced with later modern accommodation.

Reorientation and Later History

The house was reoriented in 1832, with the plainer north elevation becoming the principal front. A formal porch was added at this time, and the horseshoe stair became the garden entrance at the rear, with the basement door beneath providing direct access to the service rooms. Within the policies of the hall stood another substantial house, Briery Bank, shown on estate plans to the north of the hall. Now demolished, it shared the north gates to Prestonhall, which are still standing and are believed to have formed part of the original estate from the early 18th century.

A door from the original circa 1700 house may have been incorporated into the walled garden: a roll-moulded door surround with a lintel dated 1690 is inset into the south-east corner.

Setting and Group

Preston Hall forms part of a listed group together with the stables, a temple, gazebos, a walled garden, and the Lion's Gates, and is set within a designated designed landscape.