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William Bruce (architect)
Encyclopedia
Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (circa
1630 – 1 January 1710) was a Scottish
gentleman
-architect
, "the effective founder of classical architecture
in Scotland," as Howard Colvin
observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian
style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones
and Christopher Wren
, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May
and Sir Roger Pratt.
Bruce was a merchant in Rotterdam
during the 1650s, and played a role in the Restoration of Charles II
in 1659. He carried messages between the exiled king and General Monck
, and his loyalty to the king was rewarded with lucrative official appointments, including that of Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland
, effectively making Bruce the "king's architect". His patrons included John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
, the most powerful man in Scotland at the time, and Bruce rose to become a member of Parliament, and briefly sat on the Scottish Privy Council
.
Despite his lack of technical expertise, Bruce became the most prominent architect of his time in Scotland. He worked with competent masons and professional builders, to whom he imparted a classical vocabulary; thus his influence was carried far beyond his own aristocratic circle. Beginning in the 1660s he built and remodelled a number of country houses, including Thirlestane Castle
for the Duke of Lauderdale, and Prestonfield House
. Among his most significant work was his own Palladian mansion at Kinross
, built on the Loch Leven estate which he had purchased in 1675. As the king's architect he undertook the rebuilding of the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse
in the 1670s, which gave the palace its present appearance. After the death of Charles II Bruce lost political favour, and later, following the accession of William
and Mary
, he was imprisoned more than once as a suspected Jacobite
. However, he managed to continue his architectural work, often providing his services to others with Jacobite sympathies.
, in around 1630, the second son of Robert Bruce of Blairhall and Katherine Preston. He may have attended St Andrews University in 1637-1638, which would suggest that his birth date was as early as 1625. The Bruces were a well-connected Episcopalian family, strongly loyal to the king, and descended from Thomas Bruce
a cousin of King Robert II
, who had been granted lands in Clackmannan and Fife. Bruce's first cousin Edward Bruce was created Earl of Kincardine
in 1643.
Letters in the Earl of Kincardine's papers show that William Bruce was in exile in Rotterdam
during the 1650s with his cousin, Alexander Bruce
, brother of the Earl of Kincardine. As Episcopalians, William and Alexander would have sought refuge from the Puritan
Commonwealth
established by Oliver Cromwell
. In Rotterdam, they were in contact with Sir Robert Moray
, a soldier and natural philosopher close to Charles II, who then resided at Maastricht
. William Bruce was a merchant, based in the Scottish community in Rotterdam, but travelling widely. He owned a ship with Alexander Bruce and John Hamilton of Grange
, and was involved in the trade of wine, coal and timber between Norway, France, England, Scotland and the Low Countries. He is recorded as having a house and a mistress in La Rochelle
. In 1658, William and Alexander travelled together from Bremen
overland to Maastricht to meet Moray. Alexander Bruce and Moray were founder members of the Royal Society
in 1660, and it is likely that architecture featured in their discussions, particularly the new town hall in Maastricht that Moray had recently advised on.
In 1659 Bruce acted as a messenger between General Monck
, Cromwell's commander-in-chief in Scotland, and the exiled King Charles II. A passport survives, issued to Bruce by Monck in September 1659, and giving him permission to remain in Scotland until his "returne to Holland," and it appears that the messages he brought from Charles persuaded Monck to march his army to London, a decisive event in the Restoration. The nature of their communications is not known, although it would appear that Moray selected him for the task. Sir Robert Douglas stated that Bruce "painted the distress and distractions" of Scotland before the General, and suggested to him "the glory that would be acquired in restoring the royal family."
Following the restoration, William Bruce was appointed Clerk to the Bills in 1660, and Clerk of Supply to the Lords in Council in 1665. Both were lucrative positions, involving collection of fees, from Parliament in the first case, and from petitioners to the Court of Session
in the latter. Meanwhile, Sir Robert Moray had established himself as a courtier and scientist at Whitehall
, London, and employed Bruce as a trusted messenger between Whitehall and the Duke of Lauderdale
, Secretary for Scotland.
Moray later served on the Treasury Commission for Scotland, as did Alexander Bruce, now Earl of Kincardine. Bruce reported to this Commission as a revenue collector, and benefited from the patronage of its members. The Commission had responsibility for the King's Works, and in 1667 Bruce was appointed Superintendent and Overseer of the Royal Palaces in Scotland. Four years later he was made Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland
, with a salary of £3600 Scots
(£300 Sterling, or £ in ), for the purpose of rebuilding Holyroodhouse. In March 1671, Bruce was part of a syndicate
which bought the rights to collect taxes over a five-year period, paying £26,000 Sterling (£ in ) for the privilege. As such, it would appear that Bruce was not only the architect of Holyroodhouse, but one of the principal financiers of the £21,000 project.
As a key figure of the Restoration administration, he became close to other Stuart loyalists, who included such powerful patrons as the Duke of Lauderdale, Lord Haltoun
, and the Earl of Rothes
. In 1667 he undertook his first building work for Lord Rothes, overseeing the extensions to Leslie House, and later worked on several of Lauderdale's properties, concurrently with Holyroodhouse. In 1668 he was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia.
From 1669 to 1674 Bruce sat in the Scottish Parliament
as shire commissioner for Fife, and from 1681 to 1682 as a shire commissioner for Kinross. From April 1685 to May 1686 he reached the peak of his political career, as a member of the Privy Council of Scotland
. But, in 1674, he became embroiled in factional rivalry between his patron Lauderdale, and his rivals the Duke of Hamilton
and the Earl of Tweeddale
. His actions, which apparently included passing information to Hamilton, invoked the fury of the Duchess of Lauderdale
, who tried to persuade her husband to deprive Bruce of his offices. Bruce survived, although his relationship with his patron was damaged. Lauderdale described him as "the bitterest factionalist partie man of his quality in all Scotland". This breakdown resulted in Bruce's eventual dismissal as Surveyor General of the King's Works, on the false pretext that Holyroodhouse was finished.
Bruce's earnings from his offices had made him a wealthy man, even by the standards of his patrons. This wealth allowed him to purchase the Balcaskie
estate in 1665, and to extend the house and gardens. In 1675 he purchased the larger estate of Loch Leven
, Kinross, from the Earl of Morton
, which brought him the hereditary sheriffdom
of Kinross-shire
. In the late 1670s Bruce took on his first architectural projects for entirely new houses.
Following the accession of James VII
in 1685, Bruce gradually fell from favour, and was distrusted by the new regime. After the Revolution of 1688
, and the accession of William of Orange
as King, he was once again at odds with his Protestant rulers, and he refused to take up his seat in Parliament. As a staunch Episcopalian, Bruce was considered a potential Jacobite
threat. In 1693 he was briefly imprisoned in Stirling Castle
for refusing to appear before the Privy Council. He was incarcerated again at Stirling in 1694, and from 1696 in Edinburgh Castle
. Bruce was expelled from parliament in 1702, his seat passing to his son John Bruce
. Despite these imprisonments, he continued his architectural work, indeed the 1690s and 1700s were his most prolific years. Bruce was imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle again in 1708 and was only released a short time before his death, at the beginning of 1710. He was buried in the family plot at Kinross Kirk, the ruins of which still stand beside Kinross House.
Bruce's surviving account books show purchases of books on music, painting and horticulture, as well as numerous foreign-language works, suggesting that Bruce was a learned man. He studied horticulture extensively, and applied his knowledge of the subject in his own gardens at Kinross. He was a friend of James Sutherland of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden
, and may have known John Evelyn
and other English horticulturalists.
After the death of his first wife, Sir William Bruce married Magdalen Scott, widow of an Edinburgh merchant called George Clerk, in 1700. They had no issue. Magdalen lived until 1752, and gained a reputation as a Jacobite, establishing a Jacobite cell at her home in Leith Citadel.
(1648–65), the work of Jacob van Campen
, and Maastricht
's City Hall (1659–64), by Pieter Post
. Alexander Bruce had married a Dutch woman with family ties to the House of Orange, and it seems likely that he provided links to the Dutch artisans who worked on some of Bruce's projects.
Bruce was certainly familiar with northern France, and in 1663 he made a further "foreign journey" at the behest of Lauderdale, although his itinerary is unknown. Whether by visit or through studying engravings, he knew several notable French houses including Vaux-le-Vicomte
, Blérancourt
, and the Chateau de Balleroy
, the last the work of French architect François Mansart
. These modern French designs, incorporating features then unknown in Scotland, such as the double-pile of major rooms in two enfilades
, ranged back-to-back, were also influential on Bruce's designs.
English influence is also visible in his work. His country houses took the compact Anglo-Dutch type as their model, as introduced into England by Hugh May
and Sir Roger Pratt, but with Continental detailing, such as the rustication
on the facade at Mertoun. Roger Pratt's Coleshill House of 1660 is often cited as a model for Bruce's Kinross House. Konrad Ottenheym concludes that Bruce employed an "international style", which was fashionable in France, Holland, and England, and that he was pivotal in disseminating this style in Scotland.
and Leslie House (seat of the Earl of Rothes) had been projects of the king's master mason John Mylne
. At Panmure, although Bruce has been credited with the design in the past, the works were overseen by Alexander Nisbet, although Bruce did design the gates and gate piers. At Leslie, Bruce oversaw the works after Mylne's death, and probably made his own amendments. Panmure was demolished in the 1950s, and only a small part of Leslie House remains standing, following a fire in the 18th century. Bruce later advised the Duke of Queensberry
regarding his plans for Drumlanrig Castle
.
Bruce also worked on his own property at Balcaskie
, Fife, which he bought in 1665, and which does survive intact, although with later alterations. He doubled the L-plan house to a near-symmetrical U-plan, and may have built the curving wing-walls and linking pavilions. Gifford, however, attributes these to a later building phase. The curving walls, a form later seen at Hopetoun, were a new innovation if Bruce did carry them out, possibly inspired by the work of the Italian Gian Lorenzo Bernini
. In the gardens he laid out parterre
s and stepped "Italian" terraces, with a vista leading the eye to the Bass Rock
, all inspired by French baroque
gardens such as Vaux-le-Vicomte. Internally, Bruce created a new layout of rooms, and it was for his continental-inspired internal planning, as much as his exterior design, that he was sought after as an architect.
In 1670 the Duke of Lauderdale commissioned Bruce to remodel Thirlestane Castle
, his 16th-century tower house
in the Border country. Bruce, working with King's master mason Robert Mylne
, extended the building with new corner pavilions and a new entrance, and re-planned the interior. Lauderdale continued to employ Bruce, often working closely with Lord Haltoun, Lauderdale's brother, during the 1670s, on his homes at Brunstane near Edinburgh, and Lethington (later renamed Lennoxlove), as well as commissioning a design for new gates at his English property, Ham House, near London, in 1671. At Ham Bruce may have had further involvement with the remodelling works going on there, under the direction of the English architect William Samwell
. While engaged at Thirlestane, Bruce also designed the nearby Lauder
Kirk, his only complete church. One of very few 17th century cruciform-plan churches in Scotland, it may have been inspired by François Mansart's similar church at Balleroy in France.
Bruce's appointment as Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland was made chiefly for the purpose of rebuilding the palace of Holyroodhouse
. Aside from this project, he only carried out minor repairs to Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, and to the fortifications on the Bass Rock. Charles I had intended to extend and rebuild Holyroodhouse, and plans had been drawn up in the 1630s. Nothing was done however, and in 1650 the palace was burnt out, destroying all but the west range. Bruce was contracted to design and oversee the works, with Robert Mylne acting as contractor. Bruce's plans were drawn up by Mylne, as Bruce himself apparently lacked the technical skills of architectural drawing.
Charles II criticised Bruce's initial plans for the internal layout, and an improved scheme was eventually approved. Construction began in July 1671, and by 1674 much of the work was complete. Bruce built a second gothic tower to mirror the existing one built by James IV
between 1498 and 1501, and created the courtyard block in a restrained classical style. A second phase of work started in 1676, when the Duke of Lauderdale ordered Bruce to demolish and rebuild the main west façade, resulting by 1679 in the screen wall, topped by a carved imperial crown, which forms the main entrance.
Also in 1676, Bruce drew up plans for the completion of Heriot's Hospital
in Edinburgh, which had been started in the 1620s. His design, for the central tower of the south façade, was eventually executed in 1693.
in 1676. The house had been badly damaged in 1654, during the civil war, and Bruce was given the task of building its replacement. (The house was later demolished). Another early full-scale commission was for Moncrieffe House (1679), which burned down in 1957.
In 1675 Bruce bought the estate of Loch Leven
from the Earl of Morton
. The estate included an old manor near Kinross
, as well as the ruins of Loch Leven Castle
, famous as the jail of Mary, Queen of Scots. After carrying out repairs on the old manor, and beginning to lay out the gardens, Bruce began work on his new home, Kinross House
, in 1686, employing master mason Thomas Bauchop. The Palladian
building bears some resemblance to Roger Pratt's Coleshill House of 1660 (demolished), but with features Bruce derived from French sources. These features, ultimately classical and Italian in origin, include the rusticated basement stonework, and the giant order
of corinthian
pilasters, the latter possibly deriving from Bernini's first designs for the Louvre
. Following Bruce's fall from favour, he found himself increasingly in debt, which delayed the completion of the house until 1693. Kinross was one of the earliest Palladian-style country houses in Scotland, and was recognised as one of the finest buildings in the country; Daniel Defoe
described it as "the most beautiful and regular piece of Architecture in Scotland", and Thomas Pennant
called Kinross "the first good house of regular architecture in North Britain".
Despite Bruce's fall from political favour, and his intermittent imprisonment, he continued to practice. During the 1690s he completed Hill of Tarvit (1696), Craighall (1697–99) in Fife, and Craigiehall
(1699) near Edinburgh. The latter, built for the Marquess of Annandale, still stands, and is used as the British Army's Scottish headquarters. From 1698 he was working on a new house for the young Charles Hope
, later first Earl of Hopetoun. Hopetoun House
, near Edinburgh, was completed in 1702, and represents Bruce's grandest country house design. The master mason was again Thomas Bauchop, and the inspiration was again Anglo-Dutch, with French rustication
. The bulk of Bruce's work is now obscured by 18th century remodelling, carried out by William Adam. Bruce was commissioned again by Hopetoun in 1708, to build a private aisle at Abercorn
Kirk. The Hopetoun Loft overlooks the interior of the kirk, and connects to a retiring room with an oval "squint" giving a view of the pulpit.
In 1702 Bruce was commissioned by the burgesses of Stirling
to design a new tolbooth
for the town. Bruce provided only sketch plans, which were executed by local masons between 1703 and 1705. Bruce's last country houses were Harden House (now known as Mertoun House), built for the Scotts in the Borders
, and his smallest house, Auchendinny
in Midlothian
. His final work, in around 1710, was for Nairne House, for the Jacobite Lord Nairne
. The house was not completed until two years after Bruce's death, and the extent of his involvement is unclear. Nairne House was demolished in 1760, although the cupola was retained and installed on the roof of the King James VI Hospital in nearby Perth
.
called Bruce "the Kit Wren of North Britain", for his role as the effective founder of classical architecture in that country, Gifford suggests he is more comparable to Hugh May
and Roger Pratt in his achievements. Like May and Pratt, he popularised a style of country house amongst the nobility, encouraging the move away from the traditional "tower house", which came to be perceived as increasingly anachronistic, towards a more continental, leisure-oriented architecture. Sir John Clerk of Penicuik
named Bruce as "the chief introducer of architecture in this country", while to Colen Campbell
, compiler of Vitruvius Britannicus, he was "justly esteem'd the best Architect of his time in that Kingdom". His work was a major influence on the design of country houses in the 18th century, an influence which was spread through the masons and draughtsmen he worked with, including Mylne and Bauchop, James Smith
, and Alexander Edward
. At Kinross his deliberate alignment of the main vista on the ruins of Lochleven Castle suggested to Howard Colvin
"that Bruce, like Vanbrugh
, has a place in the prehistory of the picturesque
".
|-
|-
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1630 – 1 January 1710) was a Scottish
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...
gentleman
Gentleman
The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
-architect
Architect
An 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...
, "the effective founder of classical architecture
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
in Scotland," as Howard Colvin
Howard Colvin
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin, CVO, CBE , was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field.-Life and works:...
observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
and Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May
Hugh May
Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work...
and Sir Roger Pratt.
Bruce was a merchant in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
during the 1650s, and played a role in the Restoration of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in 1659. He carried messages between the exiled king and General Monck
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, KG was an English soldier and politician and a key figure in the restoration of Charles II.-Early life and career:...
, and his loyalty to the king was rewarded with lucrative official appointments, including that of Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland
Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland
The Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland was responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of royal palaces, castles and other crown property in Scotland. The main buildings were; Holyroodhouse; Edinburgh Castle; Stirling Castle; Linlithgow Palace; and Falkland Palace. The position...
, effectively making Bruce the "king's architect". His patrons included John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
Sir John Maitland, 1st Duke and 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, 3rd Lord Thirlestane KG PC , was a Scottish politician, and leader within the Cabal Ministry.-Background:...
, the most powerful man in Scotland at the time, and Bruce rose to become a member of Parliament, and briefly sat on the Scottish Privy Council
Privy Council of Scotland
The Privy Council of Scotland was a body that advised the King.In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates in the running the country. Its registers include a wide range of material on the political, administrative, economic and social affairs of Scotland...
.
Despite his lack of technical expertise, Bruce became the most prominent architect of his time in Scotland. He worked with competent masons and professional builders, to whom he imparted a classical vocabulary; thus his influence was carried far beyond his own aristocratic circle. Beginning in the 1660s he built and remodelled a number of country houses, including Thirlestane Castle
Thirlestane Castle
Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley of the Leader Water. The land has been in the ownership of the Maitland...
for the Duke of Lauderdale, and Prestonfield House
Prestonfield House
Prestonfield House is a five-star boutique hotel located in Prestonfield, Edinburgh. It was originally built in 1687 by architect Sir William Bruce, and was once a wealthy rural estate, but in recent decades has come to serve as a hotel...
. Among his most significant work was his own Palladian mansion at Kinross
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...
, built on the Loch Leven estate which he had purchased in 1675. As the king's architect he undertook the rebuilding of the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse
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...
in the 1670s, which gave the palace its present appearance. After the death of Charles II Bruce lost political favour, and later, following the accession of William
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
and Mary
Mary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
, he was imprisoned more than once as a suspected Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
. However, he managed to continue his architectural work, often providing his services to others with Jacobite sympathies.
Early years
Little is known of Bruce's youth, and his date of birth is unrecorded. He was probably born at Blairhall in western FifeFife
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...
, in around 1630, the second son of Robert Bruce of Blairhall and Katherine Preston. He may have attended St Andrews University in 1637-1638, which would suggest that his birth date was as early as 1625. The Bruces were a well-connected Episcopalian family, strongly loyal to the king, and descended from Thomas Bruce
Thomas Bruce, 1st Baron of Clackmannan
Sir Thomas Bruce, 1st Baron of Clackmannan was the first Baron of Clackmannan and the possible grandson or grandnephew of King Robert the Bruce. Most Bruces of today are descended from Thomas Bruce's lineage. and current Chief of the Clan, Andrew Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin, is a descendant of Sir...
a cousin of King Robert II
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
, who had been granted lands in Clackmannan and Fife. Bruce's first cousin Edward Bruce was created Earl of Kincardine
Earl of Kincardine
The title Earl of Kincardine was created in 1643 in the Peerage of Scotland for Edward Bruce. The English Civil War between King Charles I and the English Parliament started in 1642...
in 1643.
Letters in the Earl of Kincardine's papers show that William Bruce was in exile in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
during the 1650s with his cousin, Alexander Bruce
Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine
Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine FRS was a Scottish inventor, politician, judge and freemason, responsible for developing the pendulum clock, in collaboration with Christiaan Huygens....
, brother of the Earl of Kincardine. As Episcopalians, William and Alexander would have sought refuge from the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
established by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. In Rotterdam, they were in contact with Sir Robert Moray
Robert Moray
Sir Robert Moray was a Scottish soldier, statesman, diplomat, judge, spy, freemason and natural philosopher. He was well known to Charles I and Charles II, and the French cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin...
, a soldier and natural philosopher close to Charles II, who then resided at Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
. William Bruce was a merchant, based in the Scottish community in Rotterdam, but travelling widely. He owned a ship with Alexander Bruce and John Hamilton of Grange
Grange House
Grange House was an estate house near Bo'ness, West Lothian , in Scotland. The original house was built in 1564 for Sir John Hamilton. It was demolished in 1906.Hippolyte Blanc submitted designs to the Cadell family for additions to the house...
, and was involved in the trade of wine, coal and timber between Norway, France, England, Scotland and the Low Countries. He is recorded as having a house and a mistress in La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
. In 1658, William and Alexander travelled together from Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
overland to Maastricht to meet Moray. Alexander Bruce and Moray were founder members of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1660, and it is likely that architecture featured in their discussions, particularly the new town hall in Maastricht that Moray had recently advised on.
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, KG was an English soldier and politician and a key figure in the restoration of Charles II.-Early life and career:...
, Cromwell's commander-in-chief in Scotland, and the exiled King Charles II. A passport survives, issued to Bruce by Monck in September 1659, and giving him permission to remain in Scotland until his "returne to Holland," and it appears that the messages he brought from Charles persuaded Monck to march his army to London, a decisive event in the Restoration. The nature of their communications is not known, although it would appear that Moray selected him for the task. Sir Robert Douglas stated that Bruce "painted the distress and distractions" of Scotland before the General, and suggested to him "the glory that would be acquired in restoring the royal family."
Political career
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
in the latter. Meanwhile, Sir Robert Moray had established himself as a courtier and scientist at Whitehall
Palace of Whitehall
The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698 when all except Inigo Jones's 1622 Banqueting House was destroyed by fire...
, London, and employed Bruce as a trusted messenger between Whitehall and the Duke of Lauderdale
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
Sir John Maitland, 1st Duke and 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, 3rd Lord Thirlestane KG PC , was a Scottish politician, and leader within the Cabal Ministry.-Background:...
, Secretary for Scotland.
Moray later served on the Treasury Commission for Scotland, as did Alexander Bruce, now Earl of Kincardine. Bruce reported to this Commission as a revenue collector, and benefited from the patronage of its members. The Commission had responsibility for the King's Works, and in 1667 Bruce was appointed Superintendent and Overseer of the Royal Palaces in Scotland. Four years later he was made Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland
Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland
The Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland was responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of royal palaces, castles and other crown property in Scotland. The main buildings were; Holyroodhouse; Edinburgh Castle; Stirling Castle; Linlithgow Palace; and Falkland Palace. The position...
, with a salary of £3600 Scots
Pound Scots
The pound Scots was the national unit of currency in the Kingdom of Scotland before the country entered into political and currency union with the Kingdom of England in 1707 . It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the model of English and French money, divided into 20 shillings...
(£300 Sterling, or £ in ), for the purpose of rebuilding Holyroodhouse. In March 1671, Bruce was part of a syndicate
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
which bought the rights to collect taxes over a five-year period, paying £26,000 Sterling (£ in ) for the privilege. As such, it would appear that Bruce was not only the architect of Holyroodhouse, but one of the principal financiers of the £21,000 project.
As a key figure of the Restoration administration, he became close to other Stuart loyalists, who included such powerful patrons as the Duke of Lauderdale, Lord Haltoun
Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale
Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale , was the second son of John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale ....
, and the Earl of Rothes
John Leslie, 1st Duke of Rothes
John Leslie , son of John Leslie, 6th Earl of Rothes, was the 7th Earl of Rothes and 1st Duke of Rothes. He was a descendant of Princess Beatrix, sister of King Malcolm III of Scotland...
. In 1667 he undertook his first building work for Lord Rothes, overseeing the extensions to Leslie House, and later worked on several of Lauderdale's properties, concurrently with Holyroodhouse. In 1668 he was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia.
From 1669 to 1674 Bruce sat in the Scottish Parliament
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
as shire commissioner for Fife, and from 1681 to 1682 as a shire commissioner for Kinross. From April 1685 to May 1686 he reached the peak of his political career, as a member of the Privy Council of Scotland
Privy Council of Scotland
The Privy Council of Scotland was a body that advised the King.In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates in the running the country. Its registers include a wide range of material on the political, administrative, economic and social affairs of Scotland...
. But, in 1674, he became embroiled in factional rivalry between his patron Lauderdale, and his rivals the Duke of Hamilton
William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton
William Douglas-Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Hamilton, KG, PC , born Lord William Douglas, was the son of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas and his second wife Lady Mary Gordon, a daughter of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly...
and the Earl of Tweeddale
John Hay, 1st Marquess of Tweeddale
John Hay, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl of Tweeddale was Lord Chancellor of Scotland....
. His actions, which apparently included passing information to Hamilton, invoked the fury of the Duchess of Lauderdale
Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale
Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale was an influential British noblewoman. She is famous for the political influence she held, which was unusual for women of the period, and for her support of Charles II during his exile as a member of the secret organisation known as the Sealed Knot.-Early...
, who tried to persuade her husband to deprive Bruce of his offices. Bruce survived, although his relationship with his patron was damaged. Lauderdale described him as "the bitterest factionalist partie man of his quality in all Scotland". This breakdown resulted in Bruce's eventual dismissal as Surveyor General of the King's Works, on the false pretext that Holyroodhouse was finished.
Bruce's earnings from his offices had made him a wealthy man, even by the standards of his patrons. This wealth allowed him to purchase the Balcaskie
Balcaskie
Balcaskie is a 17th century country house in Fife, Scotland. It lies around 2 km north of St Monans, and is notable chiefly as the home and early work of architect Sir William Bruce. Robert Lorimer, an admirer of Bruce, called the house "the ideal of what a Scottish gentleman's home ought to be"...
estate in 1665, and to extend the house and gardens. In 1675 he purchased the larger estate of Loch Leven
Loch Leven
Loch Leven is a fresh water loch in Perth and Kinross council area, central Scotland.Roughly triangular, the loch is about 6 km at its longest. The burgh of Kinross lies at its western end. Loch Leven Castle lies on an island a short way offshore...
, Kinross, from the Earl of Morton
Earl of Morton
The title Earl of Morton was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1458 for James Douglas of Dalkeith. Along with it, the title Lord Aberdour was granted. This latter title is the courtesy title for the eldest son and heir to the Earl of Morton....
, which brought him the hereditary sheriffdom
Sheriffdom
A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland.Since 1 January 1975 there have been six sheriffdoms. Previously sheriffdoms were composed of groupings of counties...
of Kinross-shire
Kinross-shire
Kinross-shire or the County of Kinross is a registration county, electoral ward and historic county in the Perth and Kinross council area in the east central Lowlands of Scotland...
. In the late 1670s Bruce took on his first architectural projects for entirely new houses.
Following the accession of James VII
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
in 1685, Bruce gradually fell from favour, and was distrusted by the new regime. After the Revolution of 1688
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
, and the accession of William of Orange
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
as King, he was once again at odds with his Protestant rulers, and he refused to take up his seat in Parliament. As a staunch Episcopalian, Bruce was considered a potential Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
threat. In 1693 he was briefly imprisoned in 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...
for refusing to appear before the Privy Council. He was incarcerated again at Stirling in 1694, and from 1696 in 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...
. Bruce was expelled from parliament in 1702, his seat passing to his son John Bruce
Sir John Bruce, 2nd Baronet
Sir John Bruce, 2nd Baronet was the son of William Bruce, the famous architect, and a Member of Parliament.John married Christian Leslie, widow of the Marquess of Montrose and daughter of the Duke of Rothes...
. Despite these imprisonments, he continued his architectural work, indeed the 1690s and 1700s were his most prolific years. Bruce was imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle again in 1708 and was only released a short time before his death, at the beginning of 1710. He was buried in the family plot at Kinross Kirk, the ruins of which still stand beside Kinross House.
Bruce's surviving account books show purchases of books on music, painting and horticulture, as well as numerous foreign-language works, suggesting that Bruce was a learned man. He studied horticulture extensively, and applied his knowledge of the subject in his own gardens at Kinross. He was a friend of James Sutherland of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh,...
, and may have known John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
and other English horticulturalists.
Family
Around 1660 William Bruce married Mary Halkett, daughter of Sir James Halkett of Pitfirrane, Bt. They had two surviving children:- Sir John Bruce, 2nd BaronetSir John Bruce, 2nd BaronetSir John Bruce, 2nd Baronet was the son of William Bruce, the famous architect, and a Member of Parliament.John married Christian Leslie, widow of the Marquess of Montrose and daughter of the Duke of Rothes...
of Kinross, (before 1671 – 19 March 1710) married Christian Leslie, widow of the Marquess of Montrose and daughter of the Duke of RothesJohn Leslie, 1st Duke of RothesJohn Leslie , son of John Leslie, 6th Earl of Rothes, was the 7th Earl of Rothes and 1st Duke of Rothes. He was a descendant of Princess Beatrix, sister of King Malcolm III of Scotland...
. He left no issue. - Anne, upon whom Sir William had entailed his estates if her brother failed to leave issue. She married twice, with issue to both husbands.
After the death of his first wife, Sir William Bruce married Magdalen Scott, widow of an Edinburgh merchant called George Clerk, in 1700. They had no issue. Magdalen lived until 1752, and gained a reputation as a Jacobite, establishing a Jacobite cell at her home in Leith Citadel.
Architectural works
Influences
The Netherlands provided William Bruce with many of his influences. He was in the Low Countries at a time when Italian Classicism was the height of fashion, and similarities have been observed between Bruce's work, particularly Holyroodhouse, and such buildings as the Amsterdam City HallRoyal Palace (Amsterdam)
The Royal Palace in Amsterdam is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which is at the disposal of Queen Beatrix by Act of Parliament. The palace was built as city hall during the Dutch Golden Age in the seventeenth century. The building became the royal palace of king Louis Napoleon and later...
(1648–65), the work of Jacob van Campen
Jacob van Campen
Jacob van Campen , was a Dutch artist and architect of the Golden Age.-Life:He was born into a wealthy family at Haarlem, and spent his youth in his home town. Being of noble birth and with time on his hands, he took up painting mainly as a pastime...
, and Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
's City Hall (1659–64), by Pieter Post
Pieter Post
Pieter Jansz Post was a Dutch Golden Age architect, painter and printmaker.-Biography:...
. Alexander Bruce had married a Dutch woman with family ties to the House of Orange, and it seems likely that he provided links to the Dutch artisans who worked on some of Bruce's projects.
Bruce was certainly familiar with northern France, and in 1663 he made a further "foreign journey" at the behest of Lauderdale, although his itinerary is unknown. Whether by visit or through studying engravings, he knew several notable French houses including 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...
, Blérancourt
Blérancourt
Blérancourt is a commune in the department of Aisne in Picardy in northern France.-Population:-Sights:The Château de Blérancourt, an influential design by Salomon de Brosse houses the National Museum of French-American Friendship and Cooperation, , founded by Anne Morgan, daughter of the financier...
, and the Chateau de Balleroy
Balleroy
Balleroy is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Biardais.-Administration:...
, the last the work of French architect François Mansart
François Mansart
François Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
. These modern French designs, incorporating features then unknown in Scotland, such as the double-pile of major rooms in two enfilades
Enfilade (architecture)
In architecture, an enfilade is a suite of rooms formally aligned with each other. This was a common feature in grand European architecture from the Baroque period onwards, although there are earlier examples, such as the Vatican stanze...
, ranged back-to-back, were also influential on Bruce's designs.
English influence is also visible in his work. His country houses took the compact Anglo-Dutch type as their model, as introduced into England by Hugh May
Hugh May
Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work...
and Sir Roger Pratt, but with Continental detailing, such as the rustication
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...
on the facade at Mertoun. Roger Pratt's Coleshill House of 1660 is often cited as a model for Bruce's Kinross House. Konrad Ottenheym concludes that Bruce employed an "international style", which was fashionable in France, Holland, and England, and that he was pivotal in disseminating this style in Scotland.
Early works
Bruce's early work involved advising clients and rebuilding existing houses, rather than designing new buildings from scratch. Panmure HousePanmure House
Panmure House was a 17th-century country house in the Parish of Panbride, Angus, Scotland, to the north of Carnoustie. It was the seat of the Earl of Panmure. It was rebuilt in the 19th century, and demolished in 1955....
and Leslie House (seat of the Earl of Rothes) had been projects of the king's master mason John Mylne
John Mylne (1611-1667)
John Mylne , sometimes known as "John Mylne junior", or "the Younger", was a Scottish master mason and architect, who served as Master Mason to the Crown of Scotland. Born in Perth, he was the son of John Mylne, master mason, and Isobel Wilson.Practising as a stonemason, he also took on the role of...
. At Panmure, although Bruce has been credited with the design in the past, the works were overseen by Alexander Nisbet, although Bruce did design the gates and gate piers. At Leslie, Bruce oversaw the works after Mylne's death, and probably made his own amendments. Panmure was demolished in the 1950s, and only a small part of Leslie House remains standing, following a fire in the 18th century. Bruce later advised the Duke of Queensberry
William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry
William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry PC also 3rd Earl of Queensberry and 1st Marquess of Queensberry was a Scottish politician....
regarding his plans for Drumlanrig Castle
Drumlanrig Castle
Drumlanrig Castle sits on the Queensberry Estate in Scotland's Dumfries and Galloway.The Castle is the Dumfriesshire family home to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry...
.
Balcaskie
Balcaskie is a 17th century country house in Fife, Scotland. It lies around 2 km north of St Monans, and is notable chiefly as the home and early work of architect Sir William Bruce. Robert Lorimer, an admirer of Bruce, called the house "the ideal of what a Scottish gentleman's home ought to be"...
, Fife, which he bought in 1665, and which does survive intact, although with later alterations. He doubled the L-plan house to a near-symmetrical U-plan, and may have built the curving wing-walls and linking pavilions. Gifford, however, attributes these to a later building phase. The curving walls, a form later seen at Hopetoun, were a new innovation if Bruce did carry them out, possibly inspired by the work of the Italian Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
. In the gardens he laid out 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 and stepped "Italian" terraces, with a vista leading the eye to 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...
, all inspired by French baroque
French Baroque architecture
French Baroque is a form of Baroque architecture that evolved in France during the reigns of Louis XIII , Louis XIV and Louis XV...
gardens such as Vaux-le-Vicomte. Internally, Bruce created a new layout of rooms, and it was for his continental-inspired internal planning, as much as his exterior design, that he was sought after as an architect.
In 1670 the Duke of Lauderdale commissioned Bruce to remodel Thirlestane Castle
Thirlestane Castle
Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley of the Leader Water. The land has been in the ownership of the Maitland...
, his 16th-century tower house
Tower 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...
in the Border country. Bruce, working with King's master mason Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne (1633-1710)
Robert Mylne was a Scottish stonemason and architect. A descendant of the Mylne family of masons and builders, Robert was the last Master Mason to the Crown of Scotland, a post he held from 1668 until his death.-Biography:...
, extended the building with new corner pavilions and a new entrance, and re-planned the interior. Lauderdale continued to employ Bruce, often working closely with Lord Haltoun, Lauderdale's brother, during the 1670s, on his homes at Brunstane near Edinburgh, and Lethington (later renamed Lennoxlove), as well as commissioning a design for new gates at his English property, Ham House, near London, in 1671. At Ham Bruce may have had further involvement with the remodelling works going on there, under the direction of the English architect William Samwell
William Samwell (architect)
William Samwell was an English architect. He was born in Dean's Yard, Westminster, to Anthony Samwell, son of Sir William Samwell, Auditor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I....
. While engaged at Thirlestane, Bruce also designed the nearby Lauder
Lauder
The Royal Burgh of Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders 27 miles south east of Edinburgh. It is also a royal burgh in the county of Berwickshire. It lies on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills, on the Southern Upland Way.-Medieval history:...
Kirk, his only complete church. One of very few 17th century cruciform-plan churches in Scotland, it may have been inspired by François Mansart's similar church at Balleroy in France.
Holyroodhouse
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...
. Aside from this project, he only carried out minor repairs to Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, and to the fortifications on the Bass Rock. Charles I had intended to extend and rebuild Holyroodhouse, and plans had been drawn up in the 1630s. Nothing was done however, and in 1650 the palace was burnt out, destroying all but the west range. Bruce was contracted to design and oversee the works, with Robert Mylne acting as contractor. Bruce's plans were drawn up by Mylne, as Bruce himself apparently lacked the technical skills of architectural drawing.
Charles II criticised Bruce's initial plans for the internal layout, and an improved scheme was eventually approved. Construction began in July 1671, and by 1674 much of the work was complete. Bruce built a second gothic tower to mirror the existing one built by James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
between 1498 and 1501, and created the courtyard block in a restrained classical style. A second phase of work started in 1676, when the Duke of Lauderdale ordered Bruce to demolish and rebuild the main west façade, resulting by 1679 in the screen wall, topped by a carved imperial crown, which forms the main entrance.
Also in 1676, Bruce drew up plans for the completion of Heriot's Hospital
George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...
in Edinburgh, which had been started in the 1620s. His design, for the central tower of the south façade, was eventually executed in 1693.
Country houses
His first commission for a new building was for the construction of Dunkeld House, and came from the Earl of AthollJohn Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl
John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl, KT was a leading Scottish royalist and defender of the Stuarts during the English Civil War of the 1640s, until after the rise to power of William and Mary in 1689...
in 1676. The house had been badly damaged in 1654, during the civil war, and Bruce was given the task of building its replacement. (The house was later demolished). Another early full-scale commission was for Moncrieffe House (1679), which burned down in 1957.
Loch Leven
Loch Leven is a fresh water loch in Perth and Kinross council area, central Scotland.Roughly triangular, the loch is about 6 km at its longest. The burgh of Kinross lies at its western end. Loch Leven Castle lies on an island a short way offshore...
from the Earl of Morton
Earl of Morton
The title Earl of Morton was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1458 for James Douglas of Dalkeith. Along with it, the title Lord Aberdour was granted. This latter title is the courtesy title for the eldest son and heir to the Earl of Morton....
. The estate included an old manor near Kinross
Kinross
Kinross is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It was formerly the county town of Kinross-shire.Kinross is a fairly small town, with some attractive buildings...
, as well as the ruins of Loch Leven Castle
Loch Leven Castle
Loch Leven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the location military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence...
, famous as the jail of Mary, Queen of Scots. After carrying out repairs on the old manor, and beginning to lay out the gardens, Bruce began work on his new home, 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 1686, employing master mason Thomas Bauchop. The Palladian
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
building bears some resemblance to Roger Pratt's Coleshill House of 1660 (demolished), but with features Bruce derived from French sources. These features, ultimately classical and Italian in origin, include the rusticated basement stonework, and the giant order
Giant order
In Classical architecture, a giant order is an order whose columns or pilasters span two stories...
of corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilasters, the latter possibly deriving from Bernini's first designs for the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
. Following Bruce's fall from favour, he found himself increasingly in debt, which delayed the completion of the house until 1693. Kinross was one of the earliest Palladian-style country houses in Scotland, and was recognised as one of the finest buildings in the country; Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
described it as "the most beautiful and regular piece of Architecture in Scotland", and Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
called Kinross "the first good house of regular architecture in North Britain".
Craigiehall
Craigiehall is a late-17th-century country house, which now serves as the Headquarters of the 2nd Division of the British Army. It is located close to Cramond, around west of central Edinburgh, Scotland....
(1699) near Edinburgh. The latter, built for the Marquess of Annandale, still stands, and is used as the British Army's Scottish headquarters. From 1698 he was working on a new house for the young Charles Hope
Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun
Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun KT was a Scottish nobleman.He was the son of John Hope of Hopetoun, grandson of Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet of Craighall, Fife. John Hope purchased the barony of Niddry Castle from the Earl of Winton around 1680...
, later first Earl of Hopetoun. Hopetoun House
Hopetoun House
Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun . It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The interior was completed by his sons John Adam and Robert...
, near Edinburgh, was completed in 1702, and represents Bruce's grandest country house design. The master mason was again Thomas Bauchop, and the inspiration was again Anglo-Dutch, with French rustication
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...
. The bulk of Bruce's work is now obscured by 18th century remodelling, carried out by William Adam. Bruce was commissioned again by Hopetoun in 1708, to build a private aisle at Abercorn
Abercorn
Abercorn is a village and parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry.-History:...
Kirk. The Hopetoun Loft overlooks the interior of the kirk, and connects to a retiring room with an oval "squint" giving a view of the pulpit.
In 1702 Bruce was commissioned by the burgesses of Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
to design a new tolbooth
Toll house
A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road or canal. Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and early 19th centuries...
for the town. Bruce provided only sketch plans, which were executed by local masons between 1703 and 1705. Bruce's last country houses were Harden House (now known as Mertoun House), built for the Scotts in the Borders
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...
, and his smallest house, Auchendinny
Auchendinny
Auchendinny is a small village near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The village had a paper mill at Dalmore, until its closure in 2005. Nearby Auchendinny House was the last country house designed by gentleman architect Sir William Bruce.-References:...
in Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
. His final work, in around 1710, was for Nairne House, for the Jacobite Lord Nairne
Lord Nairne
Lord Nairne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, which since 1995 is held by the Viscount Mersey. It was created in 1681 for the Scottish lawyer Sir Robert Nairne, with remainder to his son-in-law Lord William Murray, fourth son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. Nairne notably served as a...
. The house was not completed until two years after Bruce's death, and the extent of his involvement is unclear. Nairne House was demolished in 1760, although the cupola was retained and installed on the roof of the King James VI Hospital in nearby Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
.
Legacy
Although Daniel DefoeDaniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
called Bruce "the Kit Wren of North Britain", for his role as the effective founder of classical architecture in that country, Gifford suggests he is more comparable to Hugh May
Hugh May
Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work...
and Roger Pratt in his achievements. Like May and Pratt, he popularised a style of country house amongst the nobility, encouraging the move away from the traditional "tower house", which came to be perceived as increasingly anachronistic, towards a more continental, leisure-oriented architecture. Sir John Clerk of Penicuik
John Clerk of Penicuik
Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, 2nd Baronet was a Scottish politician, lawyer, judge, composer and architect.He was Vice-President of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, the pre-eminent learned society of the Scottish Enlightenment.-Early life:...
named Bruce as "the chief introducer of architecture in this country", while to Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
, compiler of Vitruvius Britannicus, he was "justly esteem'd the best Architect of his time in that Kingdom". His work was a major influence on the design of country houses in the 18th century, an influence which was spread through the masons and draughtsmen he worked with, including Mylne and Bauchop, James Smith
James Smith (architect)
James Smith was a Scottish architect, who pioneered the Palladian style in Scotland. He was described by Colen Campbell, in his Vitruvius Britannicus , as "the most experienced architect of that kingdom".-Biography:...
, and Alexander Edward
Alexander Edward
Alexander Edward was a Scottish Episcopalian clergyman, who later became a draughtsman, architect and landscape designer...
. At Kinross his deliberate alignment of the main vista on the ruins of Lochleven Castle suggested to Howard Colvin
Howard Colvin
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin, CVO, CBE , was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field.-Life and works:...
"that Bruce, like Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
, has a place in the prehistory of the picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
".
External links
- Sir William Bruce on Undiscovered Scotland
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