Horatio Walter Lonsdale, Zodiac window (c.1880), Mount Stuart, Rothesay, Isle of Bute.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Horatio Walter Lonsdale, Zodiac window (c.1880), Mount Stuart, Rothesay, Isle of Bute.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Mount Stuart, Rothesay, Isle of Bute

Address

Mount Stuart, Rothesay, Isle of Bute PA20 9LR

Recommended by

Linda Cannon AMGP ACR (10)

Highlight

12 zodiac windows situated high up in the main marble hall

Artist, maker and date

Horatio Walter Lonsdale, c.1880

Reason for highlighting

Visually decades before its time and completely bonkers. A feast for all the senses and worth every effort to visit. One of the inspirations behind Hogwarts. Pack your sandwiches and enjoy a grand day out on a beautiful Scottish Island.

Other comments

The original house was built in 1719, but was severely damaged by fire in 1877. Most of the contents survived, along with the wings of the building, which were incorporated into the present building. The new house, along with the Cathedral of the Isles, on the Isle of Cumbrae, is one of the finest achievements of the High Victorian Gothic Revival.

Further details of the house and gardens can be found on the Mount Stuart website.

Artist/maker notes

Horatio Walter Lonsdale (1844-1919) was born in Mexico in 1846. After training as an architect, Lonsdale established a long partnership with the architect William Burges, working with him as his principal artist on many of his major commissions, including Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch and Burges’s Yorkshire churches. Burges’s biographer, Joseph Mordaunt Crook, sums up Lonsdale’s career thus, “a draughtsman of exceptional precision, his best work was all for Burges”.

Sources:
Horatio Walter Lonsdale on Wikipedia
Horatio Walter Lonsdale on the Victorian Web

Highlighted dates at this location

c.1880 (Go to date search)

All artists mentioned at this location

Lonsdale, H W