Melville House

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Melville House

Melville House is an early classical mansion near the Scottish town of Letham in the Council Area Fife . In 1984 the building was included as an individual monument in the Scottish monument lists in the highest monument category A. The entire property is also listed in the Scottish Landscaping Register . In two of six categories, the highest rating “outstanding” was awarded.

history

In the early 14th century, the Monimail property was owned by the Diocese of St Andrews . As Bishop of St Andrews , William de Lamberton had a fortified house built there. Later, the nearby Tower House Monimail Tower , which has been preserved to this day, was built . After the Reformation, James Balfour, Lord Pittendreich acquired the property. He had the buildings described as ruinous redesigned and sold Monimail in 1592 to Robert Melville, 1st Lord Melville .

John Melville, 3rd Lord Melville joined the Raith estate (see Raith House ) to Monimail and in 1644 obtained the establishment of a barony . After his son George, 4th Lord Melville , was accused of being a member of the Rye House conspiracy in 1683 , he first fled to Hamburg . First expropriated, it would take until 1689 for Melville to get the property back. The following year he was made the first Earl of Melville . To express the political influence he had gained through his offices as Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland and Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in the early 1690s, Melville had Melville House built between 1697 and 1701. Various unexecuted designs are by William Bruce , a pioneer of classicism in Scotland, and the important architect James Smith , a pioneer of Palladianism . Presumably the executed design came from Smith, who was revising a design by Bruce.

Since Melville House was initially only intended to serve as a representative object, the family continued to live on Monimail Tower. Only David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven, 2nd Earl of Melville moved the ancestral home to the manor in 1710. After the Act of Union in 1707, Melville's influence waned significantly. In 1723 he sold the Raith estate , supposedly in order to have funds to maintain Melville. Reginald Fairlie was responsible for an expansion and revision in 1939 . During the Second World War , Melville House was used for military purposes and served as the headquarters of the auxiliary units. Polish troops were also housed there. The Melvilles sold the mansion in 1949. Between 1960 and 1971 it housed a boarding school, the Dalhousie School . In 1975 the County of Fife acquired the property and ran a school there. After the owner of Melville House, now privately owned and restored as a residential building, ran into financial difficulties in the early 2000s, he put the property up for sale for £ 4.5 million. After no buyer could be found, the property fell to the lending bank. It was then offered and sold at a significantly lower price at £ 2.5 million.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b c d Garden and Designed Landscape - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ BBC News: £ 2.5m price for repossessed home , July 13, 2009

Web links

Commons : Melville House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 18 ′ 41 ″  N , 3 ° 8 ′ 5.2 ″  W.