Hospitalfield House
| Hospitalfield House | |
|---|---|
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 Location within Angus
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Scots Baronial |
| Town or city | Arbroath, Angus |
| Country | Scotland |
| Coordinates | 56°33′21″N 2°37′04″W / 56.555972°N 2.617848°W |
| Construction started | 1840 |
| Completed | 1870 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Patrick Allan-Fraser |
Hospitalfield House is an arts centre and historic house in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland regarded as "one of the finest country houses in Scotland". It is believed to be "Scotland's first school of fine art" and the first art college in Britain. It is a registered charity under Scottish law. A range of prominent Scottish artists have worked there, including Joan Eardley, Peter Howson, Will Maclean,Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, William Gear, Alasdair Gray, Wendy McMurdo, and Callum Innes.
Hospitalfield House was founded in the 13th century by Tironesian monks from nearby Arbroath Abbey as a leprosy and plague hospice called the "Hospital of St John the Baptist". It was purchased and extended by James Fraser in 1665. Walter Scott stayed in the house in 1803 and 1809 and used it as his model for "Monkbarns" in his novel The Antiquary (1816).
See Hospital of St John the Baptist, Arbroath for a detailed account of the early history of the House together with sources.
In the mid 19th century, Hospitalfield House was expanded by Patrick Allan-Fraser, a patron of the arts. Allan-Fraser, the son of an Arbroath weaving merchant, studied art in Edinburgh and was once president of the British Academy of Art in Rome. In Arbroath, he completed a series of paintings for an edition of Scott's The Antiquary. After acquiring the Hospitalfield estate through marriage he embarked on a substantial remodelling programme. His scheme used mainly local craftsmen and converted an eighteenth-century barn into a gallery, added a five-storey bartizan and a large wing. He had a keen interest in the arts and set up the Patrick Allan-Fraser of Hospitalfield Trust to support young artists. The building was bequeathed "for the promotion of Education in the Arts" on the death of Allan-Fraser in 1890, having no heirs to his estate.
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