The House
Come and enjoy a tour of Paxton House to discover a wealth of stories and visit the stunning neo-classical rooms designed for the Home family by architect, Robert Adam, and cabinet maker, Thomas Chippendale. Built by Patrick Home of Billie in 1758, the house has been little changed by succeeding generations apart from the addition of a magnificent regency Picture Gallery to display Patrick Home’s collections of paintings.
The Entrance Hall
The only room with an interior completed by Patrick Home in the 1760s, the perfectly symmetrical Entrance Hall is a light filled space decorated with lively Rococo plasterwork by George Morrison. It was always sparsely furnished with a painted oilcloth on the floor.
The Morning Room
The Morning Room was originally the family’s private sitting room or parlour, redecorated in the Regency around 1817 by George Home. Today it is home to The Paxton Secretaire, one of the finest examples of Chippendale’s ‘Paxton Style’ and now featured in a fascinating new exhibition – Sugar & Slavery – which explores the family’s links with slavery and their plantations in Grenada.
The Drawing Room
The pinks and greens of the Drawing Room create a light and feminine space using classical motifs, echoed in the inlay of the furniture. Here the furniture is of Chippendale’s best quality.
The Dining Room
The Dining Room was the principal entertaining room of the house and has the finest interior, decorated with panache by Thomas Chippendale. On the walls hang some of the paintings collected by Patrick Home in Italy in the 1770s.
Costume
When Patrick Home sold Paxton to his cousin Ninian, he left behind a chest of clothing worn at the courts of Europe in the 1740s, including the costume he had worn as a Carthaginian knight at the 1750 Berlin Carousel, a famous spectacle staged at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Patrick’s high fashion outfits now form the core of an important collection of historic costume at Paxton House.
The Library
The room was created for George Home around 1811 and is reached by a Bust Room designed to show off Patrick Home’s sculpture collection. The style is Regency and the atmosphere masculine, with furnishings in rosewood by George Trotter.
Picture Gallery
The top lit Picture Gallery was added by George Home to display his uncle’s picture collection, now augmented by works on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland. The room contains exceptional suites of furniture by Scotland’s premier cabinetmaker, George Trotter.
The Main Staircase
The main staircase is decorated with rococo plasterwork with a delicately worked wrought iron balustrade. Designed to take family and guests from the main rooms to the bedrooms, it contrasts with a simpler stair off the Morning Room used by servants.
The West Bedroom
George Home’s bedroom in the early 19th century, with a small bathroom ensuite which may once have been a Charter Room for the safekeeping of documents.
Alcove Bedroom
The bedroom is furnished with simple elegant pieces in mahogany by Thomas Chippendale decorated with wallpaper to reproduce that described in Chippendale’s accounts. There is a small powder room off.
Principal Bedroom
The main bedroom at Paxton, decorated in newly fashionable chintz, has some of the most interesting Chippendale furniture in the house including a set of painted wheelback chairs.
The Kitchen
The Georgian kitchen is separate from the house in the West Wing as a fire precaution. See how food was cooked and prepared in the past.