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The Armoury, Abbotsford
Photograph: E. Smith (1954)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection

Abbotsford was the home of Sir Walter Scott from 1811 until his death in 1832. Scott, of course, is best known as a writer. However, his architectural tastes were also of great importance to Scottish architecture. Abbotsford, famous in his lifetime, was central to the popularisation of the style we call Scotch Baronial.

Before Scott bought the property, Abbotsford was a modest house. Bit by bit it was expanded, the new rooms based on Medieval and later Scottish architecture. However, Scott did not slavishly copy past examples, as this picture of the Armoury shows.

This room was designed to house an assortment of guns, swords and other deadly implements from Scott’s collection of curiosities. Scott’s collecting mania continued with the architecture itself. Where the arches meet the walls, a wonderful set of corbels can be spotted. Some are part-man, part-monkey. Others are winged demons or knight’s heads. Plaster casts from earlier Scottish buildings, they were carefully placed. The playful effect is like poetry in plaster, and contemporaries were captivated, ensuring the style’s popularity throughout the nineteenth century.