Home Farm, Culzean Castle

Home Farm at Culzean Castle is a castellated farm steading designed by Robert Adam (or the Adam Brothers) in 1787, later converted and adapted by the Boys Jarvis Partnership (1969–1973) and ARP Lorimer Architects (1999–2000). It occupies a dramatic clifftop setting as part of the wider Culzean Castle Estate and is widely regarded as part of an outstanding ensemble exemplifying the ideals of the Picturesque movement — the largest group of Robert Adam buildings ever executed. The complex, together with Culzean Castle and the Stable Block, appears in several paintings by Alexander Nasmyth commissioned by the 1st Marquess of Ailsa.

The building comprises four T-plan blocks, ranging from one to two storeys in height, arranged around a courtyard and linked by arched gateways at the north, south, east and west, which together form an octagonal central courtyard. Construction is in rubble with ashlar dressings. The complex currently serves as a visitors' centre.

COURTYARD ELEVATIONS

The northwest and northeast blocks present a seven-bay arcade with arches fully glazed, and plate glass double doors in the centre bay. The southeast block has five bays: two single doorways to the left, a window in the centre, a window set within a boarded door aperture to the right of centre, and a double doorway to the right. The southwest block has five bays alternating between windows (two) and doors (three).

EXTERNAL ELEVATIONS

The four entrance archways at the north, south, east and west each have pilastered corners to the piers, a machicolated cornice, and a plain parapet. Roofless corbelled bartizans with dummy arrow slits occupy the corners. Each entrance is flanked by a pair of round towers attached to the corners of single-storey buildings — except the north entrance — featuring dummy lancet windows, a plain cornice at eaves level, a blind oculus above, a machicolated cornice, and a plain parapet above that.

The transverse buildings' side elevations are two storeys with three bays, a blind arch in the centre, a cornice string course, and ocular windows to the upper floors. The gable elevations are single-bay, with a moulded string course, a blind oculus at attic level, roofless bartizans to the corners, crowsteps to the skews, and a cross at the apex.

Windows throughout are 12-pane, of various sizes, in timber sash and case. The southwest block retains ridge stacks. Roofs are grey slate pitched.

INTERIORS

As observed in 2010, no discernible original features survive in the main converted blocks.

The northwest block houses a gift shop and information centre within the courtyard range, with a stone flag floor, exposed stone walling, and timber tie and cross beams. To the rear is an auditorium with an exposed timber roof structure, and above that an exhibition space with exposed rafters.

The northeast block is a restaurant with a ceramic tile floor, exposed stone walling, a boarded timber ceiling, and timber roof beams.

The southeast block contains a gift shop with a timber floor and exposed rafters, and public conveniences within the courtyard range. To the rear, a multi-purpose space known as the 'Stone Barn' occupies both floors, with timber floors and stairs, exposed stone walling, and timber rafters. This space was created as part of the 1999–2000 works by ARP Lorimer Architects and exhibition designers Skakel & Skakel.

The southwest block contains offices within the courtyard range. Linked to the rear is Home Farm House, a dwelling that retains some original or early features: a carved stone chimneypiece in the parlour, consisting of pilasters with chamfered edges and moulded bases supporting a carved anthemion frieze and corniced mantel shelf; timber window architraves and shutters with iron fastening hasps; a stone newel staircase; and timber panelled doors in the main upstairs room.

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Home Farm replaced the old offices attached to the castle, which were demolished in 1788. It was considered a model farm steading in an age of agricultural improvement, and was designed to accommodate houses for the land steward and the dairyman, as well as stables, a byre, sheds, and barns. James Adam may have been involved in the design, as he owned a farm in Hertfordshire and wrote on the practicalities of efficient farming.

A series of drawings from the Adams' office, entitled 'Farm Offices', demonstrates the geometrical ordering of the scheme, with the whole contained within an outer fenced octagonal enclosure — though it is not known whether this outer enclosure was ever erected. In these drawings, the northeast and southwest blocks are designated 'ox house' and 'shed for carts' respectively, with open colonnades or loggias in the Palladian manner on the courtyard elevations. The scheme was clearly altered during execution, presumably by Adam's clerk of works, Hugh Cairncross. The architectural emphasis appears to have shifted from the interior to the exterior: the external elevations are highly ornamented with turrets and crowsteps, while the courtyard elevations are comparatively utilitarian, with simple arched openings on the northwest and northeast ranges and irregular fenestration on the others. The original uses were probably broadly as specified in the Adams' plans, although the southwest courtyard range is unlikely to have served as a cart house since its doorways are too narrow. Archive photographs show chimney stacks protruding from the round towers flanking one of the entrance arches; these are no longer extant.

In 1969–1973, Home Farm was converted into a visitor centre for the newly designated Country Park by the Boys Jarvis Partnership. At that time substantial stonework repairs were carried out and all but one of the four blocks was re-roofed. Subsequent internal alterations and schemes of redecoration have followed.

BROADER ESTATE CONTEXT

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 — a Scheduled Monument — were fortified as secure stores. Culzean Castle became the principal family seat when Sir Thomas Kennedy (1726–1775) 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 designs by Robert Adam, work continued by Archibald (1770–1846), the 12th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Ailsa, who from around 1810 commissioned numerous practical and ornamental structures across the grounds, engaging several important architects and landscape designers and producing several key works of the Picturesque era. The 3rd Marquess undertook modernisation and enlargement of the castle in the 1870s. In 1945, the 5th Marquess of Ailsa 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 — Culzean and Seton among them — 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.

Home Farm forms part of an A-listed group at Culzean Castle Estate, together with: Culzean Castle; Castle Walls etc; Fountain Court etc; Ruined Arch and Viaduct; Stable Block etc; Camellia House; Cat Gates; Powder House; Ardlochan Lodge; Dolphin House; Hoolity Ha'; 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.