Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 1710), was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes.

His patrons included John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, the most powerful man in Scotland at that time, and Bruce rose to become a member of Parliament, and briefly sat on the Scottish Privy Council.

He worked with competent masons and professional builders, to whom he imparted a classical vocabulary; thus his influence was carried far beyond his own aristocratic circle.

After the death of Charles II Bruce lost political favour, and later, following the accession of William and Mary, he was imprisoned more than once as a suspected Jacobite.

In Rotterdam, they were in contact with Sir Robert Moray, a soldier and natural philosopher close to Charles II, who then resided at Maastricht.

He owned a ship with Alexander Bruce and John Hamilton of Grange, and was involved in the trade of wine, coal, and timber between Norway, France, England, Scotland and the Low Countries.

[5] In 1659, Bruce acted as a messenger between General Monck, Cromwell's commander-in-chief in Scotland, and the exiled King Charles II.

[5] Sir Robert Douglas stated that Bruce "painted the distress and distractions" of Scotland before the General, and suggested to him "the glory that would be acquired in restoring the royal family.

Four years later he was made Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland, with a salary of £3600 Scots (£300 Sterling, or £ 61,000 in 2025), for the purpose of rebuilding Holyroodhouse.

[1] In March 1671, Bruce was part of a syndicate which bought the rights to collect taxes over a five-year period, paying £26,000 Sterling (£ 5.3 million in 2025) for the privilege.

[5] As a key figure of the Restoration administration, William Bruce became close to other Stuart loyalists, who included such powerful patrons as the Duke of Lauderdale, Lord Haltoun, and the Earl of Rothes.

His actions, which apparently included passing information to Hamilton, invoked the fury of the Duchess of Lauderdale, who tried to persuade her husband to deprive Bruce of his offices.

[14] This breakdown resulted in Bruce's eventual dismissal as Surveyor General of the King's Works, on the false pretext that Holyroodhouse was finished.

In 1675 he purchased the larger estate of Loch Leven, Kinross, from the Earl of Morton, which brought him the hereditary sheriffdom of Kinross-shire.

[18] After the death of his first wife, Sir William Bruce married Magdalen Scott, widow of an Edinburgh merchant called George Clerk, in 1700.

His country houses took the compact Anglo-Dutch type as their model, as introduced into England by Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt, but with Continental detailing, such as the rustication on the facade at Mertoun.

[20] Bruce's early work involved advising clients and rebuilding existing houses, rather than designing new buildings from scratch.

[26] The curving walls, a form later seen at Hopetoun, were a new innovation if Bruce did carry them out, possibly inspired by the work of the Italian Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Bruce, working with King's master mason Robert Mylne, extended the building with new corner pavilions and a new entrance, and re-planned the interior.

[30] William Bruce's appointment as Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland was made chiefly for the purpose of rebuilding the palace of Holyroodhouse.

[32] Charles II criticised Bruce's initial plans for the internal layout, and an improved scheme was eventually approved.

After carrying out repairs on the old manor, and beginning to lay out the gardens, Bruce began work on his new home, Kinross House, in 1686, employing master mason Thomas Bauchop.

The Palladian building bears some resemblance to Roger Pratt's Coleshill House of 1660 (demolished), but with features Bruce derived from French sources.

These features, ultimately classical and Italian in origin, include the rusticated basement stonework, and the giant order of corinthian pilasters, the latter possibly deriving from Bernini's first designs for the Louvre.

The Hopetoun Loft overlooks the interior of the kirk, and connects to a retiring room with an oval "squint" giving a view of the pulpit.

Nairne House was demolished in 1760, although the cupola was retained and installed on the roof of the King James VI Hospital in nearby Perth.

[42] Although Daniel Defoe called Bruce "the Kit Wren of North Britain",[43] for his role as the effective founder of classical architecture in that country, Gifford suggests he is more comparable to Hugh May and Roger Pratt in his achievements.

[1] Sir John Clerk of Penicuik named Bruce as "the chief introducer of architecture in this country",[25] while to Colen Campbell, compiler of Vitruvius Britannicus, he was "justly esteem'd the best Architect of his time in that Kingdom".

[45] At Kinross his deliberate alignment of the main vista on the ruins of Lochleven Castle suggested to Howard Colvin "that Bruce, like Vanbrugh, has a place in the prehistory of the picturesque".