Gardie House
| Gardie House | |
|---|---|
 Gardie House | |
| Coordinates | 60°09′36″N 1°07′23″W / 60.1601°N 1.1230°W |
Listed Building – Category A | |
| Designated | 13 August 1971 |
| Reference no. | LB5880 |
| Designated | 31 March 2003 |
| Reference no. | GDL00186 |
  Location in Shetland | |
Gardie House is an 18th-century estate house on Bressay in Shetland, Scotland. Located opposite Lerwick, across the Bressay Sound, Gardie is described by Historic Scotland as an "example of the smaller Scottish country house, unique in Shetland."[1]
The house is protected as a category A listed building,[2] and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.[1]
History
[edit]The Henderson family owned Gardie from the 17th century,[3] and in 1724 Magnus Henderson (died 1753) had the present house built. The builder was a mason from Aberdeen named Forbes.[1] The double-pile plan of Gardie was relatively novel in the early 18th century. The symmetrical arrangement of walled gardens leading down to a harbour was laid out at the same time.[1] The drawing room contains fine wooden panelling, installed around 1750.[2]
The house passed out of the Henderson family in 1799, and was inherited by Elizabeth Nicolson and her husband Thomas Mouat of Garth, the builder of Belmont House on Unst. Their nephew, William Mouat, added the porch and constructed the steading and Gothic cottage in the grounds. Sir Walter Scott dined at Gardie House during his 1814 visit to Shetland. In 1905 the house was altered, and remains privately owned. In 2001, the owner was John Hamilton Scott, Lord Lieutenant of Shetland.[4]
Description
[edit]The house has a symmetrical main front facing the sea of seven bays, with a central stone porch (added in 1810) and stone quoins. There were originally two storeys plus attics; the upper part was extended in around 1905 to create a shallow central pediment, five bays in width, which has three windows.[5][6] The lower storeys have seven windows, with five grouped centrally flanked by a single one on either side.[6] The other elevations are not symmetrical.[5] The building is finished with brown-coloured harling. Outbuildings include a small stableblock and a cottage with Gothic windows. The garden gate has columns with pilasters surmounted by urns.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Historic Environment Scotland. "Gardie House (GDL00186)". Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ a b Historic Environment Scotland. "Gardie House, including Garden and Boundary Walls, Pavilions, Gates, and Gatepiers (Category A Listed Building) (LB5880)". Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ Grant, Francis (1893). "Henderson of Gardie". The County Families of the Zetland Islands. Lerwick: T & J Manson. pp. 126–128.
- ^ Dewar, Peter Beauclerk (2001). Burke's landed gentry of Great Britain. Burke's Peerage. p. 1443. ISBN 978-0-9711966-0-5.
- ^ a b c Mike Finnie (1990). Shetland: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides to Scotland). Mainstream. pp. 83–84. ISBN 978-1851583904.
- ^ a b John Gifford (2003). Highlands and Islands (The Buildings of Scotland). Yale University Press. p. 494. ISBN 9780300096255.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Gardie House at Wikimedia Commons
