Hidden secrets in our buildings
Traces of tradespeople
Over the past three years, the Trust has undertaken a major project to redecorate Holmwood in accordance with Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s original designs. While our decorators were applying gold leaf to the cornice and ceiling in the drawing room, they uncovered what appear to be remnants of the original decorators’ materials. Stashed behind the wooden frieze were scrunched-up old gilding papers with tiny remnants of gold leaf still hanging on. We believe they date back to the mid-19th century. Curator Emma Inglis explains: ‘It almost sent shivers down my spine, because this was a tangible connection with when the house was first decorated.’ Some of the papers were taken away to be stored, but we’ve left the rest tucked away where we found them.
Symbols in the plasterwork
The remarkable 18th-century plasterwork in the saloon at House of Dun includes hidden Jacobite symbolism, hinting at the true political leanings of the home’s former owner. David Erskine, 13th Laird of Dun, was a senior judge working for the Hanoverian government but he was also a relative of Jacobite leader John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar. The plasterwork created by Joseph Enzer at House of Dun includes many symbolic images and motifs – from white roses to a depiction of Mars, the god of war, with his foot on the crown. Poseidon on his chariot is thought to represent the arrival of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland from over the seas.
Stairs tucked into turrets
‘One of my favourite hidden secrets is how architect Robert Adam used the little towers on the corners of Culzean Castle for service staircases,’ says curator Sarah Beattie. As a large estate, Culzean would have had hundreds of servants, and the ‘hidden’ staircases enabled those working in the castle to go about their tasks without using the main staircases with the owners. For example, the turret you see to the right of the front door as you look at the castle houses stairs leading up to the blue drawing room. ‘I initially assumed the turrets were purely decorative,’ says Sarah. ‘They’re actually really functional and offer a nice insight into life behind the public rooms.’
The subtlety of Mackintosh
Like the owners of Culzean Castle, the Blackie family, who lived at the Hill House in Helensburgh at the start of the 20th century, would also have employed servants. Traditionally, the door leading from the servants’ area into the public rooms in houses such as this would have been insulated with green baize fabric to prevent noise and odours from travelling through. But not at the Hill House! As Visitor Services Assistant Alison McIntosh-Prentice explained in one of our recent members’ talks, ‘Mackintosh didn’t want to interrupt his flow of design and colour scheme, so he did not have a green baize door. Instead, the door was designed with a panel of stained-glass squares.’ Look closely and you’ll see that one stands out – four tiles up from the bottom on the right-hand side, a single tile is coloured green in a nod to the traditional design practice.
A hint of booze and bubbles
The wine cellar at Pollok House may have lain empty for decades but a faint smell of alcohol still lingers. The original metal wine racks remain in situ, as do the slate slabs in partitioned alcoves where we assume that bottles or barrels were once stacked. In the nearby corridor, an old SodaStream machine, about a metre high, is chained to the wall. ‘It’s got a big tank attached to it,’ explains curator Emma Inglis. ‘You would take your bottle of drink down there and carbonate it, and I think there are still some spare bottles in the wine cellar.’ We believe the SodaStream was installed in 1908, when Pollok House was extended to include the basement service corridor and service wings.
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Culzean Castle
Robert Adam’s cliff-top masterpiece rises above a world of woods, beaches, secret follies and play parks
The Hill House
Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s architectural masterpiece turns art into a home.
House of Dun
William Adam’s Georgian house places baroque extravagance in a spectacular natural setting.
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