(Unbuilt)

The Hirsel

Catalogue No. C0002
Dates of Construction: 1886
Location: Berwickshire, Scotland
Client: Earl of Home
Purpose of Building:Houses
Category:Single
Historic England Listing Number:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Number:

Lutyens designed an ambitious but unrealized scheme to enlarge The Hirsel

Description

Lutyens had probably met the Earl of Home in London through his father who had often made paintings for patrons in Scotland. He had generously offered a design problem to the student of sixteen – to enlarge The Hirsel – and Lutyens had responded with characteristic confidence: ‘It is one of the most interesting [problems] I have ever had’. Lutyens proposed to raise the roof, add a front door and many bay windows. Inside he opened up ‘the saloon and staircase- throwing them into one as it were’. He completely transformed the Georgian fenestration of the existing house into Tudor bays with gables. The project was on an enormous scale, and, not surprisingly, was never carried out. (Amery et al., 1981, cat no. 26)

Bibliography

Amery, C., Richardson, M. and Stamp, G. (1981) Lutyens, the Work of the English Architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944): Hayward Gallery London, 18 November 1981-31 January 1982. London: Arts Council of Great Britain. , Cruft, K., Dunbar, J. and Fawcett, R. (2008) Borders. The Buildings of Scotland. New Haven: Yale University Press.

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