Dunecht House

Dunecht House is a stately home on the Dunecht estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.

The barony of Echt had been owned by the Forbes family since 1469 and the original mansion house, built in 1705, was known as Housedale. The present mansion is located slightly to the south west of it. In 1820 William Forbes commissioned the Aberdeen City Architect John Smith to design a replacement house in a basic two-storey Grecian inspired style. The house and lands were sold to James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford in 1845 for £117,000. His main family residence was Haigh Hall in Greater Manchester and it was under the instruction of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford, his eldest son who succeeded him in 1869, that further extensive additions were made to the Dunecht mansion. This phase of architectural work was undertaken by Smith's son William and spanned from 1855–1859.

Usually an annual ball was held at either Haigh Hall or the family's London home but in October 1871 it was hosted at Dunecht. Attendees included the Gordons from Cluny Castle, the Abercrombies from Forglen House, the Irvines from Drum Castle and many other dignitaries from throughout the north east.

Additional internal renovations were commissioned around 1867 and undertaken by George Edmund Street. A fire in early November 1872 caused some damage to the four-storey north west wing which housed servant quarters.

...
Wikipedia