Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/472

FOURTH PERIOD 456 CAROLINE PARK Sir George Mackenzie, Lord Tarbat, was Prime Minister in Scot- land under James vn., and was in 1703 created Earl of Cromarty by Queen Anne. This mansion was designed as a quadrangle surrounded by buildings. It measures 98 feet from north to south by 87 feet from east to west, with a courtyard 45 feet by 38 feet (Fig. 887). FIG. 889. Caroline Park. View of the North Front. The house was originally planned with its principal entrance front- ing the north. The approach was from that direction along the coast from the eastwards, and a very fine gateway (Fig. 888) marks the entrance to the grounds. The north front (Fig. 889) is a good specimen of " Queen Anne " work, while in the corbelled turret of the staircase at the south-east angle of the courtyard (Fig. 890) there still lingers a trace of the old Scottish style. The north entrance front (Fig. 888) is, of course, symmetrical, according to the fashion of the time, with a door in the centre (Fig. 891), and it has the peculiarity of having no windows on the ground floor. The doorway leads into an entrance hall communicating with the principal staircase, with a suite of large well- finished apartments on the east side, and the kitchen and offices on the west side of the quadrangle. The north side contained vaulted cellars. The principal staircase is wide and handsome, and the wrought-iron railing is as fine a specimen as we possess in this country of that class of work (Fig. 892).