Architecture of Scotland
Encyclopedia
Skara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...
to the design of the Scottish Parliament Building
Scottish Parliament Building
The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...
. Scotland has also produced some of the most idiosyncratic of architects such as James, John
John Adam (architect)
John Adam was a Scottish architect. Born in Linktown of Abbotshall, now part of Kirkcaldy, Fife, he was the eldest son of architect and entrepreneur William Adam. His younger brothers Robert and James Adam also became architects.The Adam family moved to Edinburgh in 1728, as William Adam's career...
and Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
, Alexander Thomson
Alexander Thomson
Alexander "Greek" Thomson was an eminent Scottish architect and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building. Although his work was published in the architectural press of his day, it was little appreciated outwith Glasgow during his lifetime...
and Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, watercolourist and artist. He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main representative of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom. He had a considerable influence on European design...
, which all relate to popular trends in Scottish architecture; all however created Scottish stylistic interpretations and often deliberately injecting traditional Scottish forms into their work. The Adam brothers were leaders of the first phase of the classical revival in the 18th century Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
.
The Prehistoric era
Prehistoric architecture is found throughout Scotland. Skara BraeSkara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...
is a large stone-built neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill
Bay of Skaill
The Bay of Skaill is a small bay on the west coast of the Orkney Mainland, Scotland.-Visitor attractions:Bay of Skaill is the location of the famous Neolithic settlement, Skara Brae, and a large residence, Skaill House, the property of the laird on whose estate Skara Brae was discovered...
on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney. Nicknamed the "British Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
", Skara Brae is Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's most complete neolithic village and the level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status in 1999. Celtic tribes during the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
left few physical remnants of their dwellings, but stone Christian monuments and Celtic cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
es have endured erosion. Protohistorical
Protohistory
Protohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings...
Scotland during the Roman Empire
Scotland during the Roman Empire
Scotland during the Roman Empire encompasses a period of protohistory from the arrival of Roman legions in c. AD 71 to their departure in 213. The history of the period is complex: the Roman empire influenced every part of Scotland during the period, however the occupation was neither complete nor...
was, unlike the rest of Great Britain, broadly untouched by the Romans, but there are the remains of Roman forts at Trimontium and Inchtuthil
Inchtuthil
Inchtuthil is the site of a Roman legionary fortress situated on a natural platform overlooking the north bank of the River Tay southwest of Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.It was built in 82 or 83 AD as the advance headquarters for the forces of governor Gnaeus Julius...
.
The middle ages and the Reformation
Scotland is known for its dramatically placed castles, many of which date from the late medieval era. This building type, often built with defence in mind in the form of the tower houseTower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
, was characterised by corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
led turrets and crow-stepped gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s marked the first uniquely Scottish mode of building. Ceilings
Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings
A number of Scottish houses and castles built between 1540 and 1640 have painted ceilings. This is a distinctive national style, though there is common ground with similar work elsewhere, especially in France, Spain and Scandinavia. Most surviving examples are painted simply on the boards and...
of these houses were decorated with vividly coloured painting on boards and beams, using emblem
Emblem
An emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.-Distinction: emblem and symbol:...
atic motifs from European pattern books or the artist's interpretation of trailing grotesque patterns. The grandest buildings of this type were the royal palaces in this style at Linlithgow
Linlithgow Palace
The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are situated in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although maintained after Scotland's monarchs left for England in 1603, the...
, Holyrood
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
, Falkland
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
and the remodelled Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...
, all of which have elements of continental European architecture, particularly from France and the Low Countries, adapted to Scottish idioms and materials (particularly stone and harl
Harl
Harling is a Scottish term describing an exterior building surfacing technique. The theory of harling is to produce a long-lasting weatherproof shield for a stone building. A pigment can be embedded in the harled material, thus obviating the need for repainting...
). More recent, Jacobean era
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
castles include Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
and Craigievar Castle
Craigievar Castle
Craigievar Castle is a pinkish harled castle six miles south of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the seat of Clan Sempill. The setting is among scenic rolling foothills of the Grampian Mountains...
. The arrival of the cannon made high-walled castles defensively impractical and obsolete, but the fortification genre evolved into a style in its own right; Scots Baronial Style architecture has an emphasis on turrets and strong vertical lines drawn from tower houses, and constitutes one of Scotland's "most distinctive contributions to British architecture".
Parish church architecture in Scotland was typically much less elaborate than in England, with many churches remaining simple oblongs, without transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s and aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s, and often without towers. In the highlands they were often even simpler, many built of rubble masonry and sometimes indistinguishable from the outside from houses or farm buildings. However, there were some churches built in a grander continental style. French master-mason John Morrow was employed at the building of Glasgow Cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral
The church commonly known as Glasgow Cathedral is the Church of Scotland High Kirk of Glasgow otherwise known as St. Mungo's Cathedral.The other cathedrals in Glasgow are:* The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew...
and the rebuilding of Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey is a Gothic-style abbey in Melrose, Scotland. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks, on the request of King David I of Scotland. It was headed by the Abbot or Commendator of Melrose. Today the abbey is maintained by Historic Scotland...
, both considered fine examples of Gothic architecture. The interiors of churches were often elaborate before the Reformation, with highly decorated sacrament houses, like the ones surviving at Deskford and Kinkell. The carvings at Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
, created in the mid-15th century, elaborately depicting the progression of the seven deadly sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
, are considered some of the finest in the Gothic style. Late medieval Scottish churches also often contained elaborate burial monuments, like the Douglas tombs in the town of Douglas
Douglas, South Lanarkshire
Douglas is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the south bank of the Douglas Water and on the A70 road that links Ayr, on the West coast of Scotland, to Edinburgh on the East, around 12 miles south west of Lanark. The placename is of Gaelic origin, derived from the Old Gaelic...
. The early 16th century saw a few crown steeple
Crown steeple
A crown steeple, or crown spire, is a traditional form of church steeple in which curved stone flying buttresses form the open shape of a rounded crown...
s built in Scotland, which in the 19th century were to become a trademark of the Gothic Revival in Scotland.
Two visits by James V of Scotland
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
to France to find a queen were responsible for a strong influence from French Renaissance architecture
French Renaissance architecture
French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....
in royal projects for the rest of his reign, seen at Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
and the royal apartments of 1540-42 at Stirling Castle. However this had little impact on houses built by the nobility.
The Scottish Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
from 1560 revolutionised church architecture in Scotland, because the Scottish Calvinists rejected ornamental places of worship and few churches escaped their attention. This tradition of geometric purity became prominent in Scottish architecture thereafter, a style which never became popular in England.
Scotland developed distinctive styles of church architecture to reflect the attitudes to worship of Calvinism. An early experiment, not repeated elsewhere, at Burntisland
Burntisland
Burntisland is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 5,940....
in 1592, was to place a central tower over a rectangular space divided by massive piers and dominated by the pulpit. The stone tower was ornamented, but the exterior of the main building below was extremely plain, little different from a large domestic house. In the 17th century a distinctive "T"-shaped plan developed, with an aisle at the end of the nave, which remained popular in the 18th century. Scottish Calvinists took, where possible, Communion seated at tables, and these could be placed in the aisle. The earliest example is probably at Weem
Weem
Weem is a village on the B846 near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Scotland.The name Weem is derived from the Gaelic uaimh, meaning 'cave'....
from 1609.
List of Scottish architects
- Robert AdamRobert AdamRobert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
(1728–1792) - William Adam (1689–1748) Father of Robert and architect and builder
- Robert Rowand AndersonRobert Rowand AndersonSir Robert Rowand Anderson RSA was a Scottish Victorian architect. Anderson trained in the office of George Gilbert Scott in London before setting up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his main work was small churches in the 'First Pointed' style that is characteristic of...
(1834–1921) - Sir William BruceWilliam Bruce (architect)Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes...
(c.1630-1710) - Edward CalvertEdward Calvert (architect)Edward Calvert was a Scottish domestic architect.Calvert's work appears to have been exclusively confined to Edinburgh, and was mostly concerned with the creation of Baronial tenements and villas in the Second Empire and Jacobean styles...
(c. 1847–1914) - Charles CameronCharles Cameron (architect)Charles Cameron was a Scottish architect who made an illustrious career at the court of Catherine II of Russia. Cameron, practitioner of early neoclassical architecture, was the chief architect of Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces and the adjacent new town of Sophia from his arrival in Russia in...
(1743–1812) - Colen CampbellColen CampbellColen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
(1676–1729) - Alan DunlopGordon Murray & Alan Dunlop ArchitectsGordon Murray & Alan Dunlop Architects, abbreviated to Murray Dunlop and gm+ad, was an architecture practice based in Glasgow, Scotland...
(1958–present) - James Leslie FindlayJames Leslie FindlayJames Leslie Findlay was a Scottish architect and soldier.James Leslie Findlay was the younger son of John Ritchie Findlay and Susan Leslie. He practiced as an architect in Edinburgh between 1885-1915. Initially apprenticed to A G Sydney Mitchell, he went into partnership with James Bow Dunn in 1894...
(1868–1952) - James GibbsJames GibbsJames Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England...
(1682–1754) - Ian G LindsayIan Gordon Lindsay-Early life:He was born in Edinburgh in 1906, son of George Herbert Lindsay, distiller and baillie or town councillor, and Helen Eliza Turnbull. He was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge....
(1906–1966) - Robert LorimerRobert LorimerSir Robert Stodart Lorimer was a prolific Scottish architect noted for his restoration work on historic houses and castles, and for promotion of the Arts and Crafts style.-Early life:...
(1864–1929) - Charles Rennie MackintoshCharles Rennie MackintoshCharles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, watercolourist and artist. He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main representative of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom. He had a considerable influence on European design...
(1868–1928), architectArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, designerDesignerA designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
and watercolourist, husband of Margaret MacDonald (Artist)Margaret MacDonald (artist)Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh was a Scottish artist whose design work became one of the defining features of the "Glasgow Style" during the 1890s.... - Robert MatthewRobert MatthewSir Robert Hogg Matthew, OBE, FRIBA was a Scottish architect and a leading proponent of modernism.- Early life & studies :Robert Matthew was the son of John Matthew . He was born and brought up in Edinburgh, and attended the Edinburgh College of Art.- Career :Robert was apprenticed with his...
(1906–1975) - James MillerJames Miller (architect)James Miller was a Scottish architect and artist. He is noted for his many buildings in Glasgow and for his Scottish railway stations. Among these are the heavily American-influenced Union Bank building at 110-20 St Vincent Street; his 1901-1905 extensions to Glasgow Central railway station; and...
(1860–1947) - Gordon MurrayGordon Murray & Alan Dunlop ArchitectsGordon Murray & Alan Dunlop Architects, abbreviated to Murray Dunlop and gm+ad, was an architecture practice based in Glasgow, Scotland...
(1954–present) - Robert Hamilton PatersonRobert Hamilton PatersonRobert Hamilton Paterson was a Scottish architect and partner in the architectural practice, Hamilton-Paterson and Rhind.Robert Hamilton Paterson was born at Edinburgh in 1843, the son of Thomas Paterson and his wife Margaret Instant...
(1843-1911) - James PlayfairJames PlayfairJames Playfair was a Scottish architect who worked largely in the Neoclassical tradition. He was born in Benvie near Dundee, where his father was the parish minister. He was the brother of William Playfair the engineer, and the mathematician John Playfair...
(1755–1794), father of William Henry - William Henry PlayfairWilliam Henry PlayfairWilliam Henry Playfair FRSE was one of the greatest Scottish architects of the 19th century, designer of many of Edinburgh's neo-classical landmarks in the New Town....
(1790–1857) - David RhindDavid RhindDavid Rhind was a Scottish architect, born in Edinburgh in 1808 to parents John Rhind and his wife Marion Anderson. David Rhind was married twice, to Emily Shoubridge in 1840, then Mary Jane Sackville-Pearson in 1845...
(1808–1883) - James Robert RhindJames Robert RhindJames Robert Rhind, architect, was born in Inverness, Scotland in 1854 and trained as an architect in his father's local practice.He was successful in the architectural competition for new libraries to be constructed in Glasgow following Andrew Carnegie’s gift of £100,000 to the city in 1901...
, (1854–1918) - Basil SpenceBasil SpenceSir Basil Urwin Spence, OM, OBE, RA was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modernist/Brutalist style.-Training:Spence was born in Bombay, India, the son of Urwin...
(1907–1976) - James StirlingJames Stirling (architect)Sir James Frazer Stirling FRIBA was a British architect. He is considered to be among the most important and influential British architects of the second half of the 20th century...
(1926–1992) - Thomas S. TaitThomas S. TaitThomas Smith Tait was a prominent Scottish Modernist architect. He designed a number of buildings around the world in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles, notably St...
(1882–1954) - Alexander 'Greek' Thomson (1817–1875)
- Frederick Thomas PilkingtonFrederick Thomas PilkingtonFrederick Thomas Pilkington was a Scottish architect, practising in the Victorian High Gothic revival style. His father was also an architect.Frederick Thomas Pilkington practised as an architect in Edinburgh from 1860 to 1883...
(1832–1898)
See also
- Prospect 100 best modern Scottish buildingsProspect 100 best modern Scottish buildingsIn 2005, the Scottish architecture magazine Prospect published a list of the 100 best modern Scottish buildings, as voted for by its readers.-The list:...
- Scots baronial style
- Architecture of England