Building record MAB6576 - PITGAVENY HOUSE

Mansion house, built in 1776 on, or near, the site of an earlier house or manor, with later additions.

Mansion house, built in 1776, on or near the site of an earlier house or manor, with later additions. Pitgaveny was once part of lands of the Bishopric of Moray, passing later to the Brodies of Lethen. It was purchased in circa 1765 by James Brander. Pitgaveny was inherited in 1854 by James Brander's granddaughter, Mrs. Brander Dunbar, who initiated the later additions to the building. Between 1991-1993, the Law and Dunbar-Nasmith Partnership removed many of these additions to return the house to its original appearance.

The house is a tall, 3-storey mansion over a basement, with a symmetrical 5-bay pedimented southwest front that has a later porch. The house is constructed with a pinned ashlar frontage, coursed rubble flanks and polished ashlar dressings. The original centre entrance was masked by a substantial, single, 3-bay porch with a side entrance, said to date to 1868, and demolished between 1991-1993. The frontage is regular, with slightly advanced and pedimented centre, 3-bay fenestration to the return elevations, with some blind windows. There are long, first-floor windows, and 9-, 12-, and 15-pane glazing is used throughout. There are rusticated quoins, a blind oculus in the pediment, a corniced blocking course encircling the wall head with angle ball finials (some of which are missing), tall coped panelled end wall head stacks, and a double piended slate roof.

A substantial 2-storey, wide, 2-bay, rear wing was added in 1870. It is constructed from coursed rubble, with ashlar dressings, and has regular fenestration with 12-pane glazing, quoins, hipped and corniced end stacks, and a piended slate roof. The rear wing is linked to the main house by a single bay block with a ground floor service portico. The rear wing had been heightened to four storeys by Charles Doug in 1912. The additional storeys were removed between 1991-1993, along with a large annexe in the re-entrant angle between the house and the wing.

Inside, the entrance hall was enlarged in circa 1870 by linking the former entrance with the southeast ground-floor room. In the stairwell, there is a cantilevered stone staircase with a moulded lip to risers and plain wooden balusters, as well as plaster balusters and a plaster ceiling with a swagged frieze and central tondo. The dining room has a carved white marble chimneypiece with marble slips, a circa 1870 cast-iron grate, and a dado rail. The drawing room is on the first floor. It has a high ceiling with a bracketed corniced anthemion frieze and a dado rail, with fielded panelled doors and window shutters throughout.

A datestone has the initials JB, for James Brander. There is a pair of square rusticated ashlar gate piers, from circa 1776, with a moulded cornice and ball finials which are flanking the former entrance at the west of the house. No gates survive. There is also an 18th Century circular dovecote (MAB6573) and a crow stepped farm steading associated with the house.

WATSON, J, 1868, MORAYSHIRE DESCRIBED, 115-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2003.

BOGDAN, NQ, 1991, Castles, Manors & Town House survey, p.37 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2251.

site of manor

Jul 5 1989 , AAS/89/03/CT15, AAS/89/03/CT15 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB32142.

Jul 5 1989 , AAS/89/03/S4/11-5, AAS/89/03/S4/11-5 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB30509.

Jul 5 1989 , AAS/89/03/S5/1, AAS/89/03/S5/1 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB32112.

Jul 11 1992 , LB 20-26, LB 20-26 (Ground Photograph). SAB33871.

Jun 24 1999 , AAS/99/07/CT14, AAS/99/07/CT14 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB31463.

SDD, n.d., BLDS OF ARCH & HIST INTEREST, No6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1827.

Record last edited

Oct 2 2026 5:38PM