Kinross House for sale in Scotland | News | Houses for sale ...
Appointed to various lucrative Crown posts following his role in the restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660, and created a baronet in 1668, Bruce made his mark as an architect with the virtual rebuilding of Holyrood House, Edinburgh, between 1674 and 1679, and major alterations to Thirlestane Castle, Hopetoun House and Caroline Park, Midlothian. But Kinross House was to be his masterpiece, and also his swansong. In 1675, with cash and favours flooding in, Bruce bought the sprawling Kinross estate on the shores of Loch Leven, which today still sports the ruins of the island stronghold where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1567–8, from the impoverished Earl of Morton. For the next 10 years, Bruce and his son John concentrated on draining and levelling the site chosen for his grand new house, then laying out and planting its splendid formal gardens, with Loch Leven and its castle providing a dramatic backdrop.
The accession of James II in 1685 saw Bruce appointeda privy councillor for Scotland, and construction started at Kinross, but a year later, he fell from grace and eventually lost his remaining government posts. Writing in Country Life (April 1, 1965), Mark Girouard sums up his career with ‘the fact that Kinross rose at all, and on such a scale, is the index of his initial political success; the fact that it was never fully completed, and was sold by his descendants less than 70 years after his death, was the result of his ultimate failure’. Kinross House was eventually built at a cost of £10,000 in 1693, but, with government income drying up, the interior had still not been completed by the time of Bruce’s death in 1710.
The ground-floor reception rooms were decorated more or less as originally planned, but the roomson the first floor and above remained largely undecorated.
The Kinross estate was in a pretty sorry state when, in 1777, it was bought by George Graham, a Scottish merchant who had made his fortune in Jamaica and India, and the great-great-great-grandfather of the present owner. Graham made few alterations to the house, being content to have it re-sashed and put in good repair by Edinburgh architect George Paterson.
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