From this side, the basement appears to the south of the house as a lower ground floor level,[4] and so from the south each element of the house presents four storeys, with a central entrance to the basement level, with decorative fanlight, leading giving access to the gardens.

[2] The principal rooms are lined with Spanish mahogany, which the Gordon brothers had sent back from Madeira[4] where they had made their fortune in the wine trade.

[2] The dining room, looking onto the garden, is lined with mahogany, and features a fireplace with white a marble chimney piece and an unusual steel basket grate by James Fraser of Banff, which has a curved, decorated front which can be retracted to avoid soiling from overheating.

[2][1] The former chapel, which no longer has any of its original fittings,[1] has a groined, vaulted ceiling, and is flanked by engaged, fluted pilasters.

[4] James Gordon was a wine trader who had established himself in Madeira, and Alexander had been a Jacobite who had been forced to flee Scotland for a time following the Battle of Culloden.

[2] It was the first house Adam built in Scotland after returning from his Grand Tour, and the Sir John Soane’s Museum holds his original designs for it.