Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/539

 WINTOUN HOUSE 523 - FOURTH PERIOD when it was resumed it was continued in a more elaborate manner. Whether the view be adopted of the house having stood unfinished, or having been finished and afterwards altered, the fact of a change of style equally remains. The main portion of the house is an oblong (Fig. 946) measuring about 79 feet long from east to west by about 31 feet in width, with a wing at the north-east corner about 25 feet square, having a turret staircase in the re- entering angle. These portions appear to have formed the original house, which was thus constructed on the old L plan. In connection with the later extensions there was added, at the north-west angle, a large staircase tower about 17 feet square, thus converting the plan into a shape some- what similar to that of Castle Stewart and Pitreavie. The staircase in this tower ceases as usual at the first floor level, and is continued in an angle turret, the tower itself becoming available for bedrooms. The wall of the south front extended westwards of the west gable (as indicated for a short distance by the hatched lines on the Plan), so that the original or enlarged building formed a more extensive house than that shown on Fig. 946 ; but owing to the additions made in this century its extent cannot now be traced. The building is three stories high towards the north, but owing to the slope of the ground to the south an additional basement story is gained in the main block, in which are situated the kitchen and offices entering from the south, and communicating with the first floor by a straight flight of steps. The principal entrance doorway was almost certainly in the large staircase tower at the north-west angle. This staircase led on the first floor into the present drawing-room, which was then the hall. The room to the east of this, now called King Charles's Room (which has access by a separate staircase) was probably the drawing-room, and the room to the north of it the owner's private room. Some of the doorways shown on the plan are in connection with the recent additions which cover the lower part of the whole of the north side. The upper floors consist of bedrooms entering off a passage or corridor running along the north side. These have been modernised, but the old panelled plaster ceilings are in many cases preserved. Most of the interior, with the exception of the drawing-room and King Charles's Room, has also been modernised. Fig. 948 shows the details of the ceiling of the drawing-room, and 949 the interior of King Charles's Room. The fine plaster ceilings and orna- mental fireplaces of these apartments are characteristic of the time of James i. It is interesting to note, as pointed out by Billings, that the ornaments used in the plaster work of Wintoun are identical in many instances with those of Pinkie House and Moray House. This indicates that the same plasterers were in all probability employed on all these houses, and that then, as now, it was found much easier and cheaper to copy the enrichments already made than to design new ones.