Building record MAB3976 - INVERERNE

Mansion house and site of earlier manor house.

Mansion house and site of earlier manor house.

Invererne House was formerly named Tannachy and belonged to the Tulloch Family from the 16th to 18th Centuries. It was sold in 1771 or 1772 to Alexander Urquhart of Maryland, USA. It was then bought in 1817 by General William Grant, who built the present mansion in 1818 on the site of an earlier house. After his death in 1832, the estate was sold to Colonel Peter Grant, who married Mary Anne Peterkin of Grange, taking the name Grant Peterkin. The name had been changed by 1834.

The mansion is a symmetrical 2-storey over raised basement, 3-bay house, constructed from tooled ashlar, with polished ashlar dressings and margins. There is a wide, slightly advanced, open pedimented centre bay. The base cornice of the pediment is supported by paired giant pilasters with stylised foliated capitals. There is an oculus in the centre of the tympanum within the pediment. The centre entrance is reached by a splayed flight of steps oversailing the raised basement, with a decorative cast-iron balustrade. There is a tripartite door piece with panelled pilasters with stylised foliated capitals and a continuous entablature breaking forward over the door. Gothic glazing is used on the upper panes of the side lights, and there is a keystoned, Gothic, traceried fanlight above. There is a centre, first-floor, keystoned, Venetian window, with reeded Corinthian pilasters and a blocked sill, and decorative tracery to the centre light. There are moulded window surrounds to the front ground- and first-floor fenestration, regular window openings in the 3-bay return gables, 6-pane glazing to the raised basement, and 12-pane glazing elsewhere, with decorative glazing to the centre bay fenestration. There are ashlar quoins, a band course above the raised basement, a deep eaves band with eaves cornice, and a blocking course. Urns crown the pediment, and there are end corniced wall head stacks and a piended, platformed slate roof.

Inside, there is an entrance hall leading to a stair hall, with a cantilevered staircase with decorative cast-iron balusters and a polished wooden handrail. The drawing room has a decorative plaster ceiling cornice and a central rose, beaded panelled dado with reeded detailing, beaded panelling to the window shutters and doors, and a white marble chimneypiece. There is similar decoration in the dining room. There have been some alterations to the front first floor rooms and landing.

The home farm and walled garden (MAB3997) are situated to the west.

WATSON, J, 1868, MORAYSHIRE DESCRIBED, 98-100 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2003.

DUNBAR, JG, 1966, HIST ARCH OF SCOT, 124 (Bibliographic reference). SAB358.

MCKEAN, C, 1987, MORAY: AN ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE, p.58 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1142.

MIERS, M, 2000, Dream Houses of the improving lands, p.59-61 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4621.

Record last edited

Oct 1 2026 6:05PM