Balcaskie is a 17th century country house in Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It lies around 2 km north of St Monans, and is notable chiefly as the home and early work of architect Sir William Bruce

William 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...

. Robert Lorimer

Robert Lorimer

Sir 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:...

, an admirer of Bruce, called the house "the ideal of what a Scottish gentleman's home ought to be". Balcaskie remains the seat of the Chief of the Name and Arms of Clan Anstruther

Clan Anstruther

Clan Anstruther is a Scottish clan from Anstruther in Fife, in the east of Scotland.-Origin of name:From the town of Anstruther, which was adopted as a familial name.-Origins of the Clan:...

, Tobias Alexander Anstruther of that Ilk

History

Balcaskie was built before 1629, as the home of the Moncrieffs of that Ilk, and was an L-plan house of four storeys. In 1665 the estate was bought by Sir William Bruce, who set about enlarging the house between 1668 and 1674. Bruce planned the new house himself, and employed John Hamilton as mason, and Andrew Waddell as wright. The house was expanded from an L-plan to an almost symmetrical U-plan, with the original building at the west end. The north front was given matching crow-step gables, with a balustraded two-storey central section. In addition, Bruce added tall corner towers to each angle. These had French-inspired details such as rusticated

Rustication (architecture)

thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...

 quoin

Quoin (architecture)

Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...

s. Bruce may have built the curving wing-walls and pavilions to the north front, however these have also been attributed to a later building phase.

The estate was sold in 1684 to Sir Thomas Steuart, when Bruce moved to his new home at Kinross House

Kinross House

Kinross House is a late 17th-century country house overlooking Loch Leven, near Kinross in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Construction of the house was begun in 1686, by the architect Sir William Bruce as his own home. It is regarded as one of his finest works, and was called by Daniel Defoe "the...

. In 1698 it changed hands again, becoming the property of Sir Robert Anstruther, whose son Philip undertook works in the mid-18th century, including heightening the central block. It was now that the wing walls and pavilions were added, according to John Gifford. Further alterations were made by William Burn

William Burn

William Burn was a Scottish architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of architect Robert Burn, and educated at the Royal High School. After training with the architect of the British Museum, Sir Robert Smirke, he returned to Edinburgh in 1812...

 in 1830-32, including a porch and new windows, and a stable block. In 1856-58 David Bryce

David Bryce

David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA was a Scottish architect. Born in Edinburgh, he was educated at the Royal High School and joined the office of architect William Burn in 1825, aged 22. By 1841, Bryce had risen to be Burn's partner...

 worked at Balcaskie, adding several baronial

Scottish baronial style

The Scottish Baronial style is part of the Gothic Revival architecture style, using stylistic elements and forms from castles, tower houses and mansions of the Gothic architecture period in Scotland, such as Craigievar Castle and Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. The revival style was popular from the...

 features.

Gardens

The gardens, to the south of the house, were laid out by William Bruce and are aligned on the Bass Rock

Bass Rock

The Bass Rock, or simply The Bass, , is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It is approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick. It is a steep-sided volcanic rock, at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets...

. The terraces and vista are inspired by French Baroque gardens, such as Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux-le-Vicomte

The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...

. The gardens were altered in the 18th century, and restored in 1826-7 by William Burn and William Sawrey Gilpin

William Sawrey Gilpin

William Sawrey Gilpin was an English artist, drawing master and, in later life, landscape designer.Gilpin was the son of the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin. He attended the school of his uncle, William Gilpin, at Cheam in Surrey...

. Parterre

Parterre

A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...

s were laid out in the 1840s by W. A. Nesfield

W. A. Nesfield

William Andrews Nesfield was a landscape architect. Nesfield was born in Lumley Park, County Durham. In 1808, after the death of William's mother, the family moved the few miles to Brancepeth where his father became rector of St Brandon's Church. His stepmother was Marianne Mills of Willington...

.