Where elegance and tranquility go hand in hand with comfort and luxury.
WELCOME
Cairness is one of the finest examples
of neoclassical architecture in Britain. This extraordinary building is the crowning achievement of architect
James Playfair, completed after his premature death by Sir John Soane.
The house has been largely unaltered, retaining all its original plasterwork
and design features and is a highly unusual building, containing many
unique elements. The design of Cairness draws heavily on ancient symbolism
and the house was almost certainly conceived partly as a grand Masonic
temple.
Cairness is a large house and yet was built on a very human scale,
its rooms commodious and inviting. It is the home of Julio Soriano-Ruiz
and Khalil Hafiz Khairallah, and is very much a lived-in and fully functioning
household.
The architecture alone and the combination of fabulous interiors, magnificent
views of the surrounding landscape and a lived-in atmosphere make Cairness
a unique experience for every visitor.
You are warmly invited you to share it with us.
History of Cairness House
Cairness
was built in the 1790s by Charles Gordon of Cairness and Buthlaw as
the heart of a 9,000-acre estate. The Loch of Strathbeg, today an important
RSPB nature reserve, was once part of the Cairness estate. Built on
an ancient settlement, the first Cairness House was a smaller mansion
designed by Robert Burn and completed in 1781. It was adapted and enlarged
a decade later into the house we see today by the architect James Playfair..
The second laird, Major-General Thomas Gordon (1788-1841), was a great
Philhellene and friend of Lord Byron. Throughout the Greek War of Independence
(1821-28) he offered his unwavering support to the Greeks and in 1832
wrote his celebrated History of the Greek Revolution.
The Gordons of Cairness lived here until 1938 when the house was sold
to Ethel, Countess of Southesk. After the war, Cairness was used as
a farmhouse and later was turned into bedsits, falling into steady decline.
Since 2001, it has been undergoing major restoration and has become
once again one of the great houses of Scotland.
Architecture
James
Playfair's design is highly unusual and contains elements unique in
British architecture. At the core of the present house sits the earlier
structure from 1781-2 by Robert Burn - essentially the central five
bays of the main block - which Playfair remodelled and enlarged a decade
later.
The remodelling entailed the addition of two bookend wings, the flanking
pavilions, the hemicycle at the rear of the house, the ice house in
the courtyard, and the inclusion of a number of symbolic details which
suggest an association with the Temple of Solomon and Freemasonry. Foremost
amongst these are the two arches on the front of the pavilions. These
seem to be Masonic symbols, possibly the "Royal Arch" enclosing
an altar, which may be a reference to the Temple. The entire ground
plan of the house reflects this design; it is also an architectural
conceit representing the letters C and H, standing for Cairness House,
as well as the beginning of CHarles Gordon. Amongst the other Masonic
features are the two stunted columns on either side of the porch, and
the swastika scroll on the front parapet.
To fully appreciate the architecture, it is necessary to take a 360º
walk around the house. From the front, the house is an austere Georgian
box; from the rear, it is fortress-like. The elevations of the house,
unravelled and laid end to end, reach almost 600ft.
Nothing prepares the visitor for the interiors: the rooms are all on
a human scale, elegantly proportioned, and extremely sophisticated in
their design and detail. James Playfair went on a "grand tour"
in the early 1790s and there are many classical references in the interior
design. Some of the rooms are themed as temples (for example the Drawing
Room as the Temple of Apollo; the Dining Room as the Temple of Bacchus)
within the larger temple that the house represented. The Egyptian Room
is the earliest of its type in Britain, very probably intended as a
Masonic meeting room to celebrate the Egyptian Rite, and its hieroglyphic
symbols contain an enciphered message.
The other unique feature of Cairness is the Ice House in the centre
of the courtyard, with its brick honeycomb structure within, its circumferal
larders, and its highly unusual design and placement. The Ice House's
functionality is subsidiary to its symbolic presence as yet another
temple. The model for this building is very probably the Temple of Vesta
in Rome, which ironically housed the eternal flame. However, as a round
temple, it seems that again this was a reference to the Temple of Solomon
and, as an architectural folly, was meant to be seen from the Egyptian
Room. It also fulfils the function of the altar stone of a prehistoric
circle.