Traquair House

Traquair House

Traquair House is a historic Scots country house and tower house complex built in multiple phases from approximately 1492 onwards. The original three-storey tower house to the north-east was extended with a south wing in 1559 and further enlarged in 1599. An additional storey was added in 1642, creating the present three to four storey building with attic. Between 1695 and 1699, under the direction of James Smith, Overseer of the Royal Works of Scotland, the house was significantly developed with the addition of service wings, terraces, pavilions, and a U-plan forecourt with entrance gates. Various interior remodelling was carried out in later periods.

The building is constructed of local whinstone rubble, harled and painted, with exposed dressings that vary in colour from dark red to yellow. Early windows feature rounded arrises and glazing grooves, while later windows have chamfered arrises. The roofline is punctuated by conical-roofed angle turrets, with pedimented dormers to the upper floor throughout the rest of the building. Later dormers have stone apex finials.

Main House

The principal south-east elevation presents a complex multi-phase composition. To the right stands an advanced four-storey block of nearly three bays, with additional irregularly placed windows lighting the staircase and ground floor rooms. The entrance is through a single-storey, single-bay porch with piended roof and canted angles. Distinctive angle turrets rise at the upper floor, flanking stone pedimented dormers that break through the eaves. A partially adjoining east wing extends from the right return, with a shallow left return containing a single stair light window.

To the left, the original tower was extended and heightened to form a three-storey and attic block of four bays. The first bay is set away from the other three, and the ground floor windows are very small. A slit window between the first and second floors at the extreme left lights the staircase. At the west end, the building rises into a corbelled square-plan angle turret with rounded corners, with stone pedimented wallhead dormers breaking the eaves to the right. A projecting single-storey, three-bay entrance porch at ground floor level on the left has a central door flanked by windows.

The south-east and north-west elevations present irregularly massed and fenestrated gabled ends rising into gablehead chimneys. Both elevations display various building phases, with wings adjoining at ground floor level.

The north-east rear elevation is very wide and shows two distinct building phases, with the older parts of the house to the right and later additions to the left. At ground floor, there are two windows to the left with slit windows to the right. The first floor has two windows to the left with five rectangular bays to the right. The second floor has a single window to the left (with a two-storey angle turret at the far left) and four bays to the right. The third floor has three bays to the left and five stone pedimented wallhead dormers breaking the eaves to the right. Adjoining to the left is the three-bay end of the single-storey east wing with a projecting single-storey piended porch straddling the extreme right of the wing and the main house, featuring a window to the face and an entrance door in the left return.

The roof of the main house is steeply pitched and covered in slate, with stone riding and lead flashing. The east and west wings and the small porch and lean-to on the principal elevation have piended slate roofs with lead crow apex finials to the wings. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted to the later wings and the centre of the main elevation. Harled rubble chimneys with plain design and replacement plain cans rise from the roofline and gable heads. A very tall harled stack with sandstone neck cope stands to the north-east of the east wing, with smaller harled roofline stacks on the rest of the elevation and the west wing.

Most windows are timber sash and case with twelve-pane glazing, with some lesser windows having four, six, or nine panes. The north-east ground floor of the east pavilion has eight lying-pane glazing.

Terraces and Pavilions

Upper and lower random rubble terraces extend below the rear of the house, with the lower terrace terminating in pavilions. On the north-east elevation, the high terraces are accessed by a central flight of stairs to the lower level, then a flight of steps to the left with plain handrail leading to the upper terrace. The lower terrace ends in two-storey square pavilions with ogee-slated roofs topped by ornate finials. The upper level has entrances in the inner returns and single windows overlooking the maze, with stacks on the outer returns. The ground floors have a central entrance door; the left pavilion's door is flanked by small windows and the space is used as an animal shelter. The left return adjoins the outhouses of the south terrace of the east wing.

East Wing

The east wing contains the dining room, lower drawing room, red room, study, and ante-rooms.

The north-west courtyard elevation is single storey with attic, six bays long, with alternating windows and doors at ground floor level, all with sandstone margins. The attic has nearly aligned pitch-roofed timber dormers to bays one to five. The south-west end has a single window.

To the south-east, the single-storey South Terrace elevation (of three slightly differing heights) has eight bays at ground floor. The seventh bay contains a pair of later glazed French doors with a three-pane envelope fanlight above. In the attic, cast-iron Carron lights illuminate bays one, seven, and eight, with nearly aligned pitch-roofed timber dormers to bays two, four, five, and six, and a smaller similar dormer to bay three. A raised random rubble-walled South Terrace runs along the south-east elevation and terminates at the rear of the east pavilion. Three gabled rubble outhouses with red sandstone dressings adjoin the base of the terrace to the right.

An ogee moulded eaves course runs around all elevations of the wing.

West Wing

The west wing contains the chapel, brewery, and gift shops at courtyard level, and the brew house, stables, and old killing room at lower level.

The south-east courtyard elevation is single storey with attic, six bays long, with alternating door and window formation, all with sandstone margins. Two attic dormers align with bays four and five: the fourth bay has a timber gabled dormer, and the fifth bay has a smaller dormer with piended roof. A lean-to entrance to the main house adjoins at the extreme right.

To the south-west, the sandstone-margined gabled end on falling ground has an inset quoin near the eaves incorporating a sundial that returns around the corner. There is a central window at courtyard level and a small window at lower level for the former killing house.

The north-west rear elevation is two storeys due to the nature of the site and seven bays long. At ground floor, there is a cart arch to the left with alternating window and door formation for the rest. The upper floor at courtyard level has seven regularly placed bays, all with sandstone margins. The north-east end wall is partially concealed, adjoining various disused service buildings.

An ogee moulded eaves course runs around all elevations.

Courtyard Screen Walls, Gatepiers, Railings, and Gates

Screen walls with gatepiers, railings, and gates adjoin the west and east wing angles and enclose the forecourt.

The principal south-west elevation features a pair of tall rusticated ashlar piers on slightly projecting bases, surmounted by tall ashlar urn finials. These contain a pair of wrought-iron gates with ornate details surmounted by a scroll overthrow featuring tulip and rose motifs. A Stuart of Traquair shield at the centre is finished with a five-point coronet. Low harled and painted screen walls with sandstone copes flank the gatepiers. Two further urn-finialled rusticated ashlar piers are regularly placed along each wall, linked by plain wrought-iron railings with stylised fleur-de-lis heads.

Terrace Pavilions

The terrace pavilions have ogee-slated roofs. Both are classically styled. One pavilion has a naive ceiling painting of Venus and Adonis on the upper floor and an animal shelter on the lower floor.

Interior

Main House Ground Floor: The studded oak entrance door opens to a hall with servant's bells, most still in working order. The timber-panelled garden parlour, now the still room, has a bolection-moulded fireplace with a trompe l'oeil still life painting above. The original stone mural stair survives. Three stone-vaulted cellars were formerly used to store cattle during raids. On the main stairs hangs a carved oak door dated 1601 from Terregles House, Dumfriesshire, showing the Scottish Unicorn and the English Lion locked in combat.

First Floor: The classically styled drawing room runs the full width of the house, with painted overdoors symbolising the arts. The timber-panelled dressing room has a small concealed cupboard. The timber-panelled King's Room, located in the original core of the house, has a glazed door to the powder closet and a timber door leading to an alternative stone staircase. It contains the state bed from Terregles House.

Second Floor: The museum room has walls of varying thickness showing the building periods of the house, an open timber beamed ceiling, two fireplaces, and a hound and dromedary mural from 1530. The plain White Room bedroom and dressing room have a narrow plaster cornice.

Third Floor: The 18th century principal library has timber shelving and panelling with a mural of philosophers and writers above the shelves cataloguing the books contained below, and a large marble fireplace. There is a second overflow library with the Traquair Archive room adjacent. The Priest's Room was used by the resident chaplain before 1829 and has a wall cupboard used to conceal an altar, a 17th century garderobe used to conceal a plain white vestment, and a shelved cupboard with a false back leading to an old stairway.

East Wing: The late 17th century dining room has hand-blocked French wallpaper from around 1851, created for the Great Exhibition, and painted timber panelling with a classically styled lead-painted fireplace. The lower drawing room has 19th century French hand-blocked wallpaper with a timber fire surround and Chippendale-style overmantel mirror.

West Wing: On the upper floor, the post-1829 Roman Catholic Chapel contains an Italian marble altar from 1870, made in Genoa, with a panel depicting the Passion by the sculptor Brumidi. Twelve 16th century carved timber wall panels, originally in the Chapel of Mary of Guise at Leith and carved in Flemish style by Scottish craftsmen, are mounted on the walls. The chapel was possibly originally a store room for the brewery below. Two modernised rooms contain the brew and gift shop.

At the lower level, the 18th century brew house and tun room form one of the oldest surviving working breweries in Britain. The old stable and killing room are also located at this level.