Duff House
Duff House is a grandiose Georgian mansion, with fabulous baroque features, it is also a National Art Gallery, affording one of the most elegant surroundings in Scotland in which to gaze at its fine art and antiquities.
The house was built from a grand design by distinguished architect William Adam for Lord Braco, William Duff, in 1735. The frontispiece is dominating by Corinthian pillars and sweeping stair cases, leading to the grand vestibule. The house would have looked even more ostentatious, the original design included wings on either side of the Duff house. But owner and architect came to an acrimonious and very public falling out and legal wrangle.
The fourth Earl was a great patron of the arts and was renowned for entertaining quests among his collection of fine arts. Today Duff House contains a range of fine art works from the 18th and 19th Centuries from the likes of El Greco, Boucher, Allan Ramsey, and Henry Raeburn as well as current exhibitions.
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Duff House was a family home for 150 years before the Duff family came into financial difficulties and had to sell up. Since 1906, Duff House has been a hotel a sanatorium and a POW camp – housing German officers of course. After the war the house fell into deterioration but from the 1980s it was painstakingly restored to its former glory using skilled methods and materials that were used in its original creation. All this is told is an excellent video production that introduces Duff House and its art galleries.
