News
November 2009
Gunsgreen House Repaired
Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth, Berwickshire was designed by well-known Scottish architect, John Adam. The house was built between 1753 and 1754 for John Nisbet, a successful merchant in the town. The house has a Palladian front and stands high above the harbour at Eyemouth with a commanding view of the town. Towards the end of his life John Nisbet lost all his property through an act of sequestration but Gunsgreen survived, first as the home of a minor landed family - the Homes of Gunsgreen, Ministers at Ayton Kirk - and later as a seaside guesthouse, with a popular reputation before and after the second World War. The House later became a sports centre then a clubhouse and in 1998 when its future was uncertain, The Gunsgreen House Trust was formed to identify a secure future for the property and reconstruct and conserve the house. This work was completed in August 2009 and the house will have its official opening in the spring of 2010.
The Pilgrim Trust has played an important role in helping to save Gunsgreen House. In 1999 the Trust made an initial grant towards the restoration, which proved crucial in securing European funding for the first phase of the building work, and again in 2006 when it provided special funding to enable the mid-Georgian joinery of the building to be reinstated.
John Adam's interiors are handsome rather than showy. There is a sense of proportion and careful symmetry and the detailing reflects the high standard of craftsmanship common in Scottish houses of the 1750 and 1760. There is too a hierarchy of elements between the different floors where skirting boards, doors and architraves are each adjusted so that they are appropriate to the consequence of the different rooms. There is a great display of the joiners' skill in a lavish oak stair with spiral banisters (see pictures) at the back of the house and in the blue wainscot parlour, where Mr. Nisbet did his business.
