Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/521

 MIDHOPE 505 FOURTH PERIOD As the family requirements increased, a wing was added of exactly the same dimensions as the original building to the eastwards, but only four stories in height, and to this again a slightly lesser wing was sub- sequently joined, till the mansion grew from a house of about nine rooms to more than double its original size. The basement floor, not shown on the plan, is entered from behind, except the kitchen in the centre, which enters down steps from the courtyard. FIG. 932. Midhope. View from the South-East. The principal floor, which is six or seven feet above the ground, is reached by an outside flight of steps, having a good doorway at the top, of the peculiar Renaissance character found in Scotland at the beginning of the seventeenth century (Fig. 933). The doorway contains in the tympanum a heart-shaped shield, with the letters I. G. entwined. The original building had a wheel stair in the angle of the walls at the north-west corner, running from top to bottom. This still remains