Kinross House

Kinross House
The garden front of Kinross House
Location within Perth and Kinross
General information
Coordinates	56°12′11″N 3°24′34″W / 56.203003°N 3.409553°W

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 most beautiful and regular piece of Architecture in Scotland".^[1]

The house, which is undoubtedly the most important early classical mansion in Scotland, retains most of its original internal decoration. It has been occupied for 200 years as the home of the Montgomery family, who purchased the property in the late 18th century. It has been described as "the coldest house in Scotland", as until it was sold by the Montgomery family, it had only four radiators.

In 2010, it was sold to Donald Fothergill, an English businessman, who thoroughly refurbished the house. Fothergill and his family now live in the house. The property is home to two full-time house staff and four full-time gardeners.

Kinross House is also notable in its precocious use of a medieval building as focus. The house itself, and its garden avenue, are deliberately orientated on the 'picturesque' object of 14th-century Loch Leven Castle on an island in the adjacent loch.

Kinross House was featured in the BBC TV series The Country House Revealed (2011) and How We Built Britain (2007).

References

1. Defoe's A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724), as cited in Fenwick, p.81

• Fenwick, Hubert (1970) Architect Royal: The Life and Works of Sir William Bruce Roundwood Press

External links

• Kinross House and Gardens (archived website)

Coordinates: 56°12′10.81″N 3°24′34.39″W / 56.2030028°N 3.4095528°W