There was so much in the exterior of picturesque variety and quaintness, that, when Mr. Barry was consulted by Sir James P. K. Shuttleworth, in 1849, he felt unwilling to make any considerable alterations. All he thought needful was to give importance to the tower and chimneys, by raising them so as to produce greater boldness in the sky-line, and to surround the building with a pierced parapet of the characteristic Elizabethan style. The old grass terraces round the house had disappeared; these he carefully restored, and carried out the same principle of architectural gardening, which he had so often exemplified in his Italian buildings, by surrounding the house with a formal garden, designed according to the geometrical patterns of the Elizabethan period. The changes were not great, but they all tended to perfect and render more striking the original character of the building; and the work was carried on con amore, for he was a great admirer of the Elizabethan style for domestic purposes, and inclined to prefer it for such purposes to the purer Gothic forms.
In the interior he had somewhat greater scope. It had been modernized by successive owners, yet so that it still retained, almost untouched, the dining-hall and the richly decorated ceiling and carved panellings of the drawing-room. The problem therefore was simply to preserve and carry out the old style of decoration, to sweep away modern excrescences, and at the same time to give that greater convenience and adaptation to present requirements, which these additions had been intended to supply. It was not one likely to cause him much difficulty, and, though all his suggestions have not been carried out, it was certainly solved very successfully, and the house is now a picturesque and beautiful specimen of its peculiar style.
Dunrobin Castle.—A work of considerable importance, for which Sir Charles Barry was consulted, although his designs were to a great degree modified, and were carried out by others, was Dunrobin Castle.[61] The castle, belonging to the Duke of Sutherland, overlooks the Dornoch Firth, and has the advantage of a fine position. It was a very old building, with some points of interest, but little pretensions to grandeur. Alterations were begun upon it in 1845, growing, as usual, in scale and magnificence, especially when the prospect of a royal visit stimulated the owner’s interest in it, and increased his requirements.
In 1844 designs were furnished by Mr. Barry at the request of the Duke; but it was found by Mr. Leslie that the information, on which they were based, had been inaccurate, and that the designs could not be carried out, without greatly enlarging the plateau on which the house stands, at an enormous expense, and without more alteration of the old castle, than the Duke was prepared to sanction. Some necessary alterations were therefore suggested, and the designs returned for further consideration. It would appear also that ideas of a design of totally different character were entertained by the Duke. These would have altered the building from the chateau-like treatment suggested by Mr. Barry to a regular “castellated” style, with flat roofs and embrasured towers. Subsequently however this design was altogether set aside, and a set of drawings prepared by Mr. Leslie, with the characteristic high roofs of Scotch castle-architecture, returning in great measure to Mr. Barry’s original design as a basis. These were submitted to him for his approval, and some alterations made by his suggestion.
The work was then begun. In the course of it Mr. Barry was frequently consulted on points both of principle and of detail, and furnished drawings of ornaments and internal arrangements, as well as of external design. In 1848 he visited Dunrobin, when the work was nearly complete. He then advised some considerable alteration of the great tower, and designed a terrace garden, both of which were carried out.
It will be seen therefore that the work is partly Sir C. Barry’s and partly Mr. Leslie’s. The original designs of Sir Charles were made the basis of the work, and several alterations of principle and detail were made by him, as “consulting architect,” during its progress. But, of course, plans made at a distance must require much alteration, and the work, growing as it proceeds in capabilities and requirements, calls for much, of which the actual superintendent of the work must have the credit and the responsibility.
On the whole, the north or entrance front is very much like Sir Charles’s original design, except that this design had no attics nor basement story. The southern and eastern fronts have far less resemblance to what was at first proposed by him, as it was here that the inaccuracy of the information supplied to him did the greatest mischief.
It was the only work of any size, with which he was connected in Scotland. He had given designs for an alteration of Drummond Castle in 1827, and for alterations of Drumlanrig Castle in 1840. But in neither case were his ideas carried out.
It will be seen from this enumeration, that his Gothic works, though not numerous, were varied in character, embracing buildings of collegiate, ecclesiastical, and domestic style. After 1837 his Gothic study was devoted to, and almost absorbed by, the works at the New Palace at Westminster. The progress visible in these lesser buildings, both in detail and in power of treatment, was partly introductory to the greater work, and partly derived from it. In it mainly his Gothic architecture must be tested. The other works merely show that his studies in Gothic were not confined to that one style, or to those principles of arrangement and composition, which he there considered to be rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case.