For this week’s artifical theme, I’ve chosen a photograph I took during a recent visit to Newhailes House in Musselburgh, Scotland. The house was built by the distinguished Scottish architect James Smith in 1686, and bought in the early 1700′s by Sir David Dalrymple, of the Scots legal and political dynasty, who were responsible for significant improvements and additions to the house and grounds.
The National Trust for Scotland recently acquired the house from the Dalrymple family and is working to conserve the house in such a way as to leave it as ‘untouched’ by modern hands as possible.
As you can see the windows aren’t real . . . this is because of a window tax that homeowners were forced to pay during the 17th and 18th centuries. Some houses from this period have bricked-up window-spaces to avoid paying the tax.
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Aloha Monkeys said:
So THAT’S what a house in Scotland looks like. Nice. Thanks for the history lesson too. Have a great weekend.
upto6only said:
thanks for sharing that.
mine is up too
Teena in Toronto said:
They had this tax in Toronto years ago too.
I played too
Mrs. Mecomber said:
Ah yes, taxes. HATE them. lol. Great photo!
Mine’s up, too! I hope you get some time to visit.
Mrs. Mecomber
New York Traveler Photo Hunt
Casey said:
Nice shot, that looks like a ghost in the front window. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhh. Haunted.
Kyooty said:
Very interesting, I’ve learned something new. I wonder what they did when they needed a window?
mumof4 said:
I never knew the story behind it. As a kid we used to always walk past a house with a few windows like that and I always used to call it the doll’s house.
Whitby Wendy said:
That’s a very spookey picture!!!!