Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle is a 2- to 4-storey, irregular-plan, castellated classical country house, principally designed by Robert Adam between 1777 and 1812, with later work by Wardrop and Reid (specifically Charles Reid) carried out between 1875 and 1879, incorporating earlier structures on the site. The building is constructed in polished ashlar and sits dramatically on a clifftop, with an estuary to the north. It features a prominent drum tower to the north and a series of engaged round towers to the south. Battered base courses, machicolated string courses, and crenellated and machicolated parapets characterise the exterior throughout.

EXTERIOR

The south, or garden, elevation rises to three storeys with a central raised attic. The main façade — excluding the west wing and east portico — spans 13 bays in a tripartite arrangement of 1-3-1-3-1-3-1, with single bays occupying the round towers. The central doorway is flanked by broad pilasters and rectangular windows. At ground-floor level the outer bays have arched windows, while the towers have slit windows. On the first floor, the three central bays have rectangular windows set within a blind arcade articulated by paired pilasters; the outer bays are arranged in a Serliana pattern (though this relies on dummy windows and is therefore a deceit), and the towers again have slit windows. At an intermediate level there are cruciform windows to the towers. The second floor has reduced rectangular windows. A three-bay machicolated fascia runs at this level, with rhomboid relief panels at sill course. The attic storey has three bays of ocular windows flanked by pepperpot turrets. The central block is flanked by concave quadrant walls with crenellated machicolated parapets, and square gate piers with timber gates mark the east and west entrances. The recessed west wing rises to three storeys over a sunken basement, with six irregular bays, a polygonal projecting bay at the centre, a pedimented doorway to its right, and the elevation terminating to the left in a round corner tower with a mounted bartizan in the angle.

The east elevation features an advanced single-storey, three-bay portico to the left and an advanced two-storey bow-fronted wing to the right, with a three-storey elevation behind. The portico has a round-headed central archway with a hood moulding, flanked by flat buttresses, with tripartite windows to each side also flanked by flat buttresses. Above a moulded cornice sits a plain parapet with a row of blind quatrefoils to the centre flanked by rhomboid panels with machicolated guttae, and rhomboid relief panels at the ends. The three-storey rear elevation has five bays including single-bay engaged round towers at each end, a blind arch on paired pilasters at first-floor level, rectangular windows with slit windows to the towers, and cruciform openings at intermediate floor level. The bow-fronted wing has pilaster strips between bays and fenestration set within a full-height blind arcade, with arched windows to the upper floor and a crenellated machicolated parapet. Its rear elevation has a Diocletian window at the upper level and a crenellated machicolated parapet flanked by pepperpot turrets.

The north elevation comprises a three-storey central block of eight bays arranged 1-5-1-1, a lowered three-storey east wing of four bays, and a lowered stepped four-storey west wing of six irregular bays. The central drum tower has a battered base and a conical roof. Its lower storey has rectangular windows set within deep apertures of an arcade, while the upper part of the tower is set back behind a balustrade. The first floor has rectangular windows set within a blind arcade, and the upper floor has alternating rectangular and arched windows, with a machicolated parapet above. Fenestration to each side of the tower is set within full-height blind arches, with Serliana arrangements at first-floor level, and a crenellated machicolated parapet with pepperpot corner towers above. The west wing consists of a cluster of towers: a two-stage drum tower to the left, an angled square tower at the centre, and a round tower to the right, all with irregular fenestration and crenellated machicolated parapets with pepperpot turrets.

The west elevation rises to three storeys and a basement to the foreground, and three storeys to the rear. The foreground elevation has three bays of irregular fenestration with a round tower to the right, a crenellated machicolated parapet, and dummy cannon waterspouts. The rear elevation has seven bays including engaged round towers with slit windows, rectangular windows, a French window second from the left, and a crenellated machicolated parapet.

Windows throughout are multi-paned, in timber sash and case. Roofs are grey slate, largely concealed behind the parapets. The west wing has stacks with multiple polygonal shafts and some single shafts; the main block has corniced stacks with cans.

INTERIOR

The interior retains Robert Adam's 18th century neoclassical decorative scheme, executed in phases from the late 1770s to approximately 1820, featuring tinted plaster ceilings and friezes and carved classical chimney-pieces. The Wardrop and Reid works of the 1870s introduced a matching Adam Revival reconfiguration and renovation, including the re-use of fixtures and fittings in new locations. The later 19th century nursery wing has plain fittings and simple mouldings, substantially altered during its 20th century conversion into flats.

The main block is arranged as suites of adjoining rooms around a central oval staircase lit by a cupola, with a circular room in the drum tower on each floor to the north, and turnpike service stairs in the corner towers. A 19th century open-well stone service stair connects to the west wing at ground and second-floor levels.

Ground Floor: The portico, of 19th century date, contains offices to the right and a distyle Ionic screen leading to a lobby on the left, with a white marble, Adam-style chimney-piece, hardwood panelled doors, two painted and glazed 18th century timber bookcases in niches to the left, and a flagstone floor. Glazed panelled double doors with a fanlight lead to the Armoury, which is a 19th century reconfiguration of what was originally Adam's hall and buffet. This space has a distyle Doric screen to the left, tripartite arched window embrasures, and a grey stone chimney-piece in the style of a classical entablature with fluted pilasters.

The Old Eating Room is a Robert Adam 18th century renovation of earlier rooms. It is apsidal to east and west and has a neoclassical ceiling of circular patterns with chimera in relief panels and three painted roundels by Antonio Zucchi. The plain cornice carries an urn and garland motif, repeated on the doorcases. The chimney-piece is grey marble in the form of a corniced entablature with an urn and garland frieze. There are panelled hardwood doors and French windows to the garden on the south side.

The Dining Room was formerly a library and dressing room, altered in 1877. It has a distyle Corinthian screen to the north, a neoclassical plaster ceiling with a bucranium frieze, a white marble carved chimney-piece with an urn and garland frieze, and panelled hardwood doors.

The stairwell, dating from 1787, is oval in plan with an ambulatory around an arcade carried on square piers with Doric capitals. The centre arches are blocked to the north, closing off the original north approach flight. It has an iron balustrade of urn and lyre pattern and a flagstone floor. The Exhibition Room to the north has a quadripartite vaulted ceiling, two stone chimney-pieces with plain moulded surrounds, and painted panelled timber doors and window shutters. The Kitchen to the northwest is double-height with a clerestorey, apsidal to the east with a stone warming range in the apse, an iron cooking range to the west, and an arched stone hearth to the northwest. The adjacent scullery has a quadripartite vault and an iron cooking range to the west.

First Floor: The oval stair landing has Corinthian columns supporting the staircase and a distyle Corinthian screen to the north. The Round Drawing Room, or Saloon, to the north was completed in 1820. It has a tinted plaster ceiling by Robert Adam in a wheel pattern with gryphons and pedestals, full-length windows to the north, two arched niches to the south, and a carved marble classical chimney-piece with paired winged seahorses and boys on dolphins to the frieze.

The Earl's Bedroom and Dressing Room to the east has a green and cream chimney-piece with an entablature supported on caryatids, a laurel wreath pattern frieze, and a studded iron inset. The Blue Drawing Room to the southeast has a tinted plaster ceiling with a painted roundel by Antonio Zucchi depicting a mythological scene at the centre, and a carved marble chimney-piece with a relief frieze of mythological creatures and Mannerist pilasters.

The Picture Room to the centre south was originally the great hall of the castle and now retains mainly 18th century decoration, including a tinted plaster ceiling with a geometric pattern, a carved marble chimney-piece with a relief panel of chimera to the frieze and Mannerist pilasters, and panelled hardwood doors. The Best Bedroom and Cradle Room date from the 18th and 19th centuries and have plain ceilings with a palmette frieze, a carved marble fireplace with a bucranium frieze and a panel with a classical scene, a later 19th century bathtub with mahogany fittings, and panelled hardwood doors. The Exhibition Rooms, also of 18th and 19th century date, have a Serlian window with panelled embrasures to the north, tinted garlanded friezes, plain wainscotting, and carved chimney-pieces with urns, garlands, and gryphons.

Second Floor (Eisenhower Apartments): These rooms are of 18th and 19th century origin but were altered in the mid-20th century when converted to a flat, with a new kitchen and laundry added. The oval stair landing has Ionic columns. The Drawing Room is a circular room with a plain cornice and two carved chimney-pieces in the form of classical entablatures, with painted panelled timber doors and window shutters. The private bedrooms were not accessible at the time of inspection. A partial attic storey to the south contains the Cairncross Suite and Adam Suite, also not inspected.

West Wing: Originally the Nursery Wing, now self-contained flats. The wing dates from the later 19th century with mid- and late 20th century alterations. It retains painted panelled timber doors and a staircase with a timber balustrade. The basement Brewhouse Flat retains 18th century features including plain stone chimney-pieces, a lounge with a quadripartite vault, and a cellar with wine racks.

HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT

Culzean Castle, together with the outstanding ornamental landscape of its estate, is acknowledged as the epitome of the Picturesque movement in Scotland and is a work of international importance. While many theorists of the Picturesque stressed informality in architectural composition and landscaping as opposed to the dominant trend of neoclassicism, Culzean combines formally ordered features with fanciful and implausible elements as well as genuine ancient fragments. The dramatic clifftop site lent itself particularly well to this approach, evoking notions of the sublime power of nature that underpinned the Romantic sensibility.

Robert Adam built or rebuilt twelve country houses in the castellated style, ten of which were in Scotland, each with slightly different combinations of features. Caldwell House (1771) in Renfrewshire had crenellation and pepperpot turrets, while Oxenfoord (1780) had round towers and crenellation, and Mellerstain was regular in elevation with a crenellated parapet. At Culzean, Adam deployed the full vocabulary. On the south façade, a well-ordered classical composition is transformed into a whimsical Mannerist castle: the round towers function as giant-order columns, their cyclopean arrow slits serving as windows, and the dentilled cornices and string courses reveal themselves on closer inspection to be dummy machicolation — yet this allows the effortless application of pilasters and Serliana in the manner of a formal classical elevation. As at Drumlanrig, the pepperpot turrets mark the ancient building at the core. The north side, looking over the Clyde Estuary, is by contrast asymmetrical and irregular, seemingly inspired by the landscapes of Claude Lorraine and Salvator Rosa, allowing the architect to create in stone the Romantic fantasy of his landscape drawings.

Commissioned by the 10th Earl of Cassillis in 1776, Adam was presented with an L-plan tower house with various extensions and detached offices, including a kitchen block on the northeast built for the 9th Earl in 1766. The tower was regularised, the kitchen wing absorbed, and there were extensions to the north and northwest. Adam's transformation was achieved in a number of stages and appears to have been finally completed only by the 12th Earl in the second decade of the 19th century, by which time both the original patron and the architect were dead.

In 1877 the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa initiated an ambitious scheme of internal alterations, refurbishment, and extension, engaging the Edinburgh architects Wardrop and Reid and the decorators Jackson and Sons of London and Bonar and Carfrae of Edinburgh. A new three-storey nursery wing was built to the west, replacing the former brewhouse wing with only the lower storeys retained, and a new porch was added to the east side, enlarging the entrance hall and providing new offices. The former buffet room and dining room were opened into one another to make a new sitting room, while the Adam library and a former dressing room were joined to create a larger dining room with French windows added to the garden terrace. Great care was taken to ensure the new rooms matched the Adam interiors, with various original fixtures and fittings re-used in new locations. Adam's later north range with its circular rooms was left largely intact, as was the spectacular elliptical staircase of 1788 to 1812. The Wardrop and Reid exteriors borrowed features from Adam's design — including the crenellated machicolated parapet and the glazing pattern — but are clearly works of Victorian taste, incorporating elements of the Baronial such as corbelled bartizans and canted bays that Adam had eschewed.

After the castle and policies passed from the 5th Marquess to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945, a visitor apartment was created for General Eisenhower on the upper floor. Various schemes of internal redecoration followed, and in the 1960s the west wing was converted into flats for letting. No external alterations have been made since the 19th century, and the building has benefitted from extensive stone restoration.

Culzean, at one time the largest estate in Ayrshire, has been associated with the Kennedy family since the Middle Ages. It was gifted by Gilbert, the 4th Earl of Cassillis, to his brother Thomas Kennedy in 1569. In the 1660s the barmekin around the tower house was breached to create terraced gardens, orchards, and a walled garden, while the caves beneath the castle — now a scheduled monument — were fortified to serve as secure stores. Culzean Castle became the principal family seat when Sir Thomas Kennedy (1726–75) became the 9th Earl of Cassillis in 1759. A continuing programme of improvements was undertaken by Sir Thomas and his successors during the 18th and 19th centuries. The 10th Earl began rebuilding the castle to Adam's designs, work continued by Archibald (1770–1846), the 12th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Ailsa, who from about 1810 commissioned numerous practical and ornamental structures with the assistance of several architects and landscape designers, resulting in several key works of the Picturesque era. The 3rd Marquess undertook the modernisation and enlargement of the castle in the 1870s. In 1945 the 5th Marquess divided the property, making over the castle and its immediately surrounding policies to the National Trust for Scotland.

Robert Adam (1728–1792) was one of the most prominent architects of his generation and, for a time, the most fashionable architect in Britain. He helped usher in the neoclassical taste that superseded Palladianism and created a refined style of interior design that came to bear his name. His castellated mansions set in Romantic landscapes, including Culzean and Seton, helped define the Picturesque movement and strongly influenced the design of Scottish country houses in the first half of the 19th century. With his family firm he undertook most types of architectural work, though large public commissions such as Register House and Edinburgh University came only towards the end of his career.

Wardrop and Reid was a continuation of the Brown and Wardrop partnership, formed when Thomas Brown died and chief draughtsman Charles Reid was assumed into partnership in 1873. When Reid died in 1883 the practice merged with that of Rowand Anderson. James Maitland Wardrop (1824–82) had extensive contacts with the landed gentry, bringing much work in building, remodelling, and extending country houses in a number of styles including French, Scots, and a pioneering Georgian Revival. The firm also held a contract with the British Linen Bank and designed numerous county court buildings. Wardrop's sons Harry and Hew were involved with the practice during the 1870s and 1880s. Charles Reid was specifically responsible for the new wing, porch, and alterations at Culzean Castle.

The castle forms part of a listed group at the Culzean Castle Estate, which includes the Castle Walls, Fountain Court, a Ruined Arch and Viaduct, the Stable Block, Camellia House, Cat Gates, Home Farm, Powder House, Ardlochan Lodge, Dolphin House, Hoolity Ha', the Swan Pond Complex, Swan Pond Ice House, Walled Garden, Bathing Complex, Water Works, Shore Boat House, Battery and Mast House, Main Drive Walls and Piers, and Gas Works.