Arniston House

Arniston House is an exceptionally fine Palladian country house, begun by William Adam between 1726 and 1733, with the west wing and orangery added by John Adam between 1754 and 1758, a porch added by Wardrop and Reid in 1872, and the north pediment rebuilt by Robert Rowand Anderson in the late 19th century. The house also includes its stable block, outbuildings, orangery, ha-ha and sundial.

The main block — known as the corps de logis — is three storeys over a basement and nine bays wide, connected by two-storey, three-bay links to two-storey, three-bay pavilions. The principal fabric is tooled coursed pinkish sandstone rubble, originally harled, with polished dressings. The wings are random rubble. Consistent throughout are a base course, a dividing band course between basement and ground floors, long-and-short V-jointed rusticated quoins, relieving arches, and a moulded eaves course.

NORTH (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION

The entrance front is symmetrical. The bays of the corps de logis are grouped 2-5-2. To the centre of the ground floor, Wardrop and Reid added a single-storey, three-bay porch in tooled coursed ashlar in 1872. This has a round-arched doorway with a Gibbs surround at its centre, flanked by engaged Tuscan columns and surmounted by an open pediment enclosing a scrolled cartouche bearing the initials "RD" for Robert Dundas. The door itself is a two-leaf panelled timber door. The flanking bays of the porch each have round-arched niches, also with Gibbs surrounds, set on Tuscan pilasters, and clasping Tuscan blocked pilaster buttresses at the angles. The left and right returns of the porch have Venetian windows, blocked pilasters at the angles, and a continuous moulded cornice with a coped balustrade. Round-arched windows sit above small basement windows at the re-entrant angles. At first-floor level, the central bays have three niches with keystones, and above these at second-floor level are three architraved windows surmounted by a carved pediment — rebuilt around 1890 — enclosing the Dundas and Oliphant coat of arms, supported on four engaged Ionic columns. The two flanking bays of the corps de logis have regular fenestration throughout their upper floors. The outer bays are slightly advanced and feature small windows with rusticated surrounds at basement level, windows with keystone and Gibbs surrounds at ground floor, a dividing band course, architraved windows with keystones at first floor, and windows with moulded surrounds at second floor. The whole is finished with a continuous dentil-moulded cornice and coped balustrade.

The angled links are symmetrical and two storeys high over three bays, having been raised from single storey by Wardrop and Reid in 1877. Each has a polygonal-headed doorway with a Gibbs surround at its centre — glazed on the left link, panelled on the right — surmounted by a pediment. The angles are framed by pilasters supporting a basket-arched frame. The flanking bays at ground floor have octagonal windows with Gibbs surrounds, each with a single window above featuring a keystone and moulded surround. The links are finished with a moulded cornice, a coped balustrade, and urn finials.

The pavilions are symmetrical, with regular fenestration to their north elevations. Their three-bay inner returns each have a Venetian window at the centre of the ground floor, with regular fenestration to the flanking bays and two small windows at the centre of the first floor, again with regular fenestration to the flanking bays.

WEST ELEVATION

The west elevation of the corps de logis is symmetrical, two storeys over a basement, and six bays wide. The basement has nine-pane windows with keystones and rusticated surrounds; the ground floor has pedimented windows with moulded surrounds; the outermost left bay at basement and ground floor is masked by the link; and the second floor has architraved windows.

The west elevation of the west pavilion is four bays wide. At ground floor there is an infilled doorway at the centre, a panelled timber door to the right with a two-pane fanlight, and a window to the outer right. At first-floor level there are two small windows to the two central bays and windows to the outer left and right bays. A later wing is advanced to the outer right; this elevation was not inspected in 1997. The left return — the courtyard elevation — is dated 1888 on a shouldered wallhead stack and has a glazed door to the left bay at ground floor with regular fenestration to the remainder.

SOUTH ELEVATION

The south elevation is symmetrical and faced in tooled random rubble over seven bays, grouped 2-3-2. A flat-roofed porch is advanced to the centre, running through basement and ground floors and dating from around 1800, approached by a perron stair of the same date. The basement of the porch has six-pane barred windows, blind at the centre, above which is a balustraded dividing band course. At ground-floor level each bay of the porch has a large window flanked by engaged Corinthian columns supporting a moulded frieze. The left and right returns of the porch have glazed two-leaf timber doors with two-pane fanlights, reached by balustraded swept stone steps also of around 1800. The body of the south elevation has regular fenestration at basement and ground floors. The central three bays have round-arched windows with keystones, and at second-floor level three nine-pane windows break through the eaves cornice and are surmounted by a pediment incorporating a carved Scottish Royal Coat of Arms with thistle and rose and the motto "NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET", surmounted by a pair of sphinxes. The flanking bays have regular fenestration throughout.

The left link on the south elevation is five bays wide; the bays to the left are obscured by trees. The penultimate bay to the right has a window at first-floor level with a moulded surround and keystone, and a small window to the outer right at ground floor. The flanking bays have windows at first-floor level. Pilasters support basket-arched frames at the angles. The blocking course has stone urns at the angles.

The right link has a doorway slightly off-centre to the right of the centre bay, reached by stone steps and fitted with a two-leaf timber door, with a window above at first-floor level. The flanking bays each have a window at first-floor level. There is a barred window off-centre to the left of the ground-floor right bay. Pilasters support basket-arched frames at the angles, with a blocking course and stone urns at the angles. Two windows appear at ground floor on the left bay of the right return, with a blank panel above and windows at both ground and first floors of the right bay. A recessed bay further to the right has a window at ground floor and a blind window at first floor.

EAST ELEVATION

The east elevation of the corps de logis is symmetrical and six bays wide, with regular fenestration to all floors. The outermost right bays at basement and ground floor are masked by the link. There are blind windows above these at first and second floors.

The east elevation of the east pavilion is asymmetrical over five bays. At ground-floor level there are large round-arched doorways in the centre bay, the penultimate bay to the right, and the outer right bay. The centre bay and the penultimate bay to the right have glazed two-leaf doors; the outer right bay opens to a garage and is flanked by a small window. The penultimate bay to the left has an infilled round-arched doorway, and the outer left bay is blank. First-floor fenestration is irregular.

ORANGERY AND WEST OUTBUILDINGS

Dating from around 1753, this range is two storeys high and was originally U-plan; the courtyard has since been roofed over. It is linked to the west side of the house by a single-storey lean-to with a corrugated iron roof and two two-leaf boarded timber doors on the north elevation. A random rubble wall with polished gatepiers to the north of the lean-to forms a courtyard to the rear of the pavilion.

The north elevation is asymmetrical over seven bays. There are round-arched doorways with impost detail at the centre bay and the penultimate bays to the left and right, a doorway to the bay to the right of centre, and a window to the bay to the left of centre flanked by two further windows. The outer right bay has a blind window, the outer left bay has a window flanked by a small window to its right. The penultimate right bay and the outer right bay have large louvred openings, with regular fenestration to the remainder.

The west elevation has three bays. The centre bay was originally an open courtyard and is now covered by a gable timber roof. The inner left return has irregular fenestration. The bay to the right has an infilled doorway off-centre to the left at ground floor and a blind window above. The outer right bay contains the orangery entrance: a Venetian doorway set within a recessed round arch, with a boarded glazed two-leaf timber door and an eight-pane fanlight.

The south (orangery) elevation is seven bays wide, symmetrical, and built in droved snecked sandstone rubble with polished dressings. The centre bay has a round-arched doorway set in a recessed round arch, fitted with a boarded glazed two-leaf timber door and an eight-pane fanlight. The remaining bays each have round-arched windows with long-and-short voussoirs and impost details.

The east elevation is seven bays wide and nearly symmetrical. At ground floor, the centre bay has a large window opening flanked by two panelled timber doors, with regular fenestration to the three central bays of the first floor. The outer bays are slightly advanced. The ground-floor areas of the penultimate left bay and outer left bay are obscured by the lean-to described above, with regular fenestration at first-floor level. The penultimate right bay has a window at ground floor, the outer right bay has a doorway at ground floor, and a single window appears at first-floor level to the outer right. There is a small rooflight at the centre.

STABLES, EAST OUTBUILDINGS AND EAST COURTYARD

This range is two storeys high and U-plan in layout. It is linked to the east side of the house at the rear of the pavilion by a random rubble wall to the south, with a boarded timber door. A coursed rubble coped wall to the north sweeps down to the east, where there are polished gatepiers with spherical caps at the far east end. These walls enclose a cobbled courtyard; the mounting block remains in place.

The north elevation is nine bays wide and nearly symmetrical. There are round-arched doorways with two-leaf boarded timber doors and five-pane fanlights in the third and seventh bays from the left at ground floor, with regular fenestration to the remaining ground-floor bays. Five windows appear at first-floor level, the outer right one breaking the eaves.

The west elevation is seven bays wide and asymmetrical. The centre bay and the flanking bay to its left have wide round-arched doorways at ground floor with glazed boarded timber doors, now used as garages. A 20th-century lean-to addition is advanced in the flanking bay to the right and has a window and a boarded timber door on its left return with a slate roof. There is a piended dormer at the centre of the first floor and a small four-pane window to the flanking right bay at first floor. The outer bays are advanced, each with a doorway under a relieving arch at ground floor fitted with a boarded timber door, and a piended dormer above at first floor. A further piended dormer appears at first floor in the penultimate right bay; the penultimate left bay is blank. A pall stone is positioned at the outer left corner.

The south elevation is partially obscured by trees; it is seven bays wide, with a round-arched window with impost detail to each bay.

The east elevation has three bays with the centre bay recessed; it is largely obscured by two timber lean-to additions to the inner returns. A window opening breaking the eaves with a cat-slide roof appears on the inner right return. The outer right bay has windows off-centre to the right at both ground and first floors. The outer left bay has a large opening with a metal lintel at ground floor and a window opening off-centre to the left at first floor.

The east courtyard is enclosed on its south, east, and north sides by tooled snecked rubble walling with droved dressings and polished ashlar coping, and the stables and outbuildings described above on the west. There is an opening in the west part of the north wall, a lean-to shelter with a corrugated iron roof on the inside of the north wall, and a cobbled floor throughout.

WINDOWS, ROOFS AND RAINWATER GOODS

Windows are predominantly twelve-pane timber sash and case, with thicker astragals largely dating from the original William Adam scheme. Roofs are piended and covered in grey slate with lead ridges. Ridge stacks are primarily double and triple corniced ashlar with circular cans. Rainwater goods are mainly cast iron, with some lead downpipes and decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR

The entrance hall is arcaded through two storeys and features baroque plasterwork by Joseph Enzer, executed between 1730 and 1735. It contains a clock dated 1592, originally from the earlier tower house on the site and now in an 18th-century case made by Francis Brodie of Edinburgh. The Oak Room has fine panelling and a basket-arched William Adam fireplace with late 19th-century overmantles; it opens into a porch of around 1800 leading to the garden. The Old Library, on the second floor, has plasterwork by Enzer including an elaborate frieze and plaster vaults; the original bookcases have been grained over and now house a porcelain collection. The dining room, restored in 1995, and the drawing room, restored in 1997, are in the west range by John Adam from 1753. The plasterwork in the drawing room was designed by John Adam and executed by Philip Robertson between 1762 and 1763. The New Library was designed by Thomas Brown and Adam Lumsden and built between 1866 and 1868; its fireplace is in the Jacobean style and bears the inscription "ELD 1868 RD". The remains of a railway that once connected the old kitchen to the dining room are still in place.

HA-HA

A stone ha-ha runs east to west to the north of the house.

SUNDIAL

A sundial stands at the centre of the south lawn. It is circular in plan, with egg-and-dart carving around the base of the shaft, gadrooning to the base of the waisted neck, and a gnomon ornamented with a raised thistle.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Arniston House is regarded as an exceptionally fine example of a country house designed for what Sir John Clerk of Penicuik described as "convenience and use". The land on which the estate stands was originally used by King Malcolm for hunting from Edinburgh Castle and changed hands several times over subsequent centuries. After the Reformation the property was divided into several units; the most significant portion was purchased in 1571 by George Dundas, 16th Laird of the Dundas Estate, as an inheritance for his son James from his second marriage to Katherine Oliphant. The union of the Dundas and Oliphant families is commemorated by the elephant of the Oliphant family and the lion of the Dundas family on the north lodges. James took over the estate around 1600, and the original house is thought to have been built around 1620 as a U-plan building with a large walled garden. He expanded the estate by purchasing farms including Castleton. His grandson Robert inherited the estate in 1679 and, on his return from exile in Holland in 1689, began to improve Arniston with the intention of building a new house and improving the grounds in the manner of the continental mansions and estates he had seen abroad. Improvements to the gardens were begun, but it was Robert's son — also called Robert — who commissioned William Adam to design the new mansion. Adam's design was clearly influenced by James Gibbs's design for Down Hall in Essex, though it was by no means a copy. Adam was also inspired by the ideas of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, for whom he had designed Mavisbank, completed in 1727. Clerk's poem The Country Seat described the useful country house that Arniston embodied, blending, in the words of A.A. Tait, "the cultivated with the natural senses". Adam based his design on the foundations of the existing 17th-century house. The original entrance arrangement comprised a three-bay temple front with a rusticated ground floor and round-arched openings, now masked by the 1872 porch addition. The three niches above, intended to contain portrait busts, survive. The rest of the house was originally harled rubble with single-storey passages leading to the service pavilions. Construction was not completed until the mid-18th century because Robert ran out of money, by which time William Adam had died; his son John then took on the commission in 1753 for Robert, 4th Lord Arniston. John Adam was responsible for the west range, which he adapted to contemporary taste by replacing the double-height apartments with the dining room and drawing room, both restored in 1997 following the discovery of dry rot in 1957. William Adam's arrangement for the grounds — apparently carried out to the south — combined formal and informal elements, including a bastioned parterre, wilderness, great avenue, cascade, and basin. From the 1750s onward there was a long period of improvement, principally involving the informalisation of the grounds. John Adam continued work on the grounds where his father had left off and was responsible for some of these changes; by 1764 the parterre and cascade had been removed. In 1791 Thomas White drew up an improvement and informalisation plan for the grounds; although little of it was carried out, the gardens did become more informal towards the early 19th century. The Scottish Royal Coat of Arms within the pediment of the south elevation, like some of the stones on the rustic bridges in the sunken garden, may have originated on Parliament House, Edinburgh, which was refaced by Robert Reid in 1803.