Author Description

In terms of architectural heritage, perhaps nothing is more poignant than the ruination of a once-grand house. Since 1945, it has been estimated, over 200 of Scotland’s major houses have been lost. The reasons for the losses vary, whether fire, dry rot, or demolition when costs become prohibitive. Fortunately, photographs remain as a remarkable, often eerie record of these great houses. Sometimes, as with the magnificent photos of Hamilton Palace, they provide a fitting testimony to an architectural masterpiece. In other cases, as with Murthly, the unique pictorial record is a painstaking—and heartbreaking—sequence of photos taken of the dynamiting of this beautiful property. Ian Gow, Curator of the National Trust for Scotland and one of the country’s most eminent architectural historians, has selected 20 of its most important lost houses, placing them in the context of an entire era of destruction.