Mavisbank House

About

Mavisbank is a country house outside Loanhead, south of Edinburgh in Midlothian, Scotland. It was designed by architect William Adam in collaboration with his client, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, and was constructed between 1723 and 1727. The first Palladian villa in Scotland, it is described by Historic Scotland as "one of Scotland's most important country houses." It was altered in the 19th century, but suffered decades of neglect in the 20th century. The interiors were gutted by fire in 1973, and the house remains a ruin, described by Colin McWilliam in 1978 as a "precarious shell". In 2024, a grant of £5.3 million was given to stabilise the building and to enable up-to-date surveys of its condition to be made.