Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 8 on 17/5/2003.

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Modern masterpiece

CHARLES DOUGLAS VISITS SCOTLAND’S CLASSIC EDWARDIAN COUNTRY HOUSE: MANDERSTON

Manderston’s appearance in Hollywood films (The House of Mirth) and on television (The Edwardian Country House/Manor House in the USA) has brought it celebrity exposure, but being located in the Scottish borders county of Berwickshire, off the direct tourist routes, it is often passed by. This is a shame, as it is well worth a visit.

For this is a fine country house on which no expense was spared, from its opulent staterooms and the only silver staircase in the world to the extensive ‘downstairs’ domestic quarters. When the architect John Kinross asked his client Sir James Miller how large his budget was, he was told that money was no object.

Manderston was certainly intended to dazzle, but it was also rebuilt and renovated for love. When Sir James married Eveline Curzon, daughter of Lord Scarsdale, head of one of Britain’s oldest dynasties, he was determined not only to impress his father-in-law, but to create a spectacular home for his family.

Sir James’s father, Sir William Miller, had made a fortune trading hemp and herrings with the Russians. After 16 years as Honorary British Consul in St Petersburg, he had returned to Scotland where he became Liberal Member of Parliament for Leith, and later, Berwickshire. The Prime Minister, William Gladstone, made him a baronet in 1874. Afew years after this, he bought Manderston from his deceased older brother’s estate.

On his father’s death in 1887, the Manderston estate, fortune and baronetcy passed to his second son, James, .....

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By Charles Douglas

Section : Historic Houses

Page number : 30