Whitehouse

At the core of the Whitehouse is a 16th century tower house built on an L-plan, however it has been added to over the centuries.

The oldest part of the house consists of a main block running approximately north-west to south-east, with a smaller wing projecting to the north-east. Within the re-entrant angle is a round stair tower, at the bottom of which is the main entrance with a carved armorial panel above.

To the rear of the property is a second doorway, above which is carved “16 DP 15”, for David Primrose who bought the house in 1615. David Primrose was the nephew of Gilbert Primrose (appointed Surgeon to King James VI in 1603), and an ancestor of the Earls of Rosebery.

Primrose died in 1651 and the Whitehouse passed to his son, James Primrose, who sold it to a writer, William Corse, in 1676. Following his father’s death in 1690, Corse’s son John Corse took over the Whitehouse, but sold it in 1699 to John Menzies of Cammo.

After selling the estate of Cammo in 1710 Menzies moved to the Whitehouse full time, but sold it in 1719 to his son-in-law, George Edie, a Writer to the Signet. Following his death in 1750, his son David Edie sold the Whitehouse to David Strachan, a merchant from Leith.

An ornate sundial in the garden of the Whitehouse carries the date 1752 and the initials MDS (for Mr David Strachan) on one of its dials. When Strachan died in 1772 he was succeeded by his son John Strachan, but he died in 1774 and the trustees of his children sold the Whitehouse to Lady Glenorchy.

By the late 19th century it was owned by a John Mackay, who commissioned MacGibbon and Ross to make considerable alterations to the property between 1895 and 1901. An extension was built onto the smaller wing, and a new wing was also added to the north-west corner of the old house, extending it further.

The Whitehouse is now a private residence.