Getting yet more of the newly digitised plans online ....
One of the biggest expenses in restoring Balintore Castle, by far, is having replacement windows and doors made. Where the window or door is missing or totally rotten, a new one has to be made. However, we have done our best to incorporate surviving fabric.
The good news is that there are very few window and door types at Balintore, and they are generally done to an even smaller set of patterns just at different scales. There are enough surviving examples to know exactly what all windows were like: absolutely no guesswork is involved.
The plans below are replacement door and window designs for the kitchen wing. Some of these have already been made and installed; some have yet to be commissioned. d29 and w27 are the only items differing from the originals: w27 is a new-design window in a door opening; d29 is single panelled door, matching an existing door, with a glazed opening that replaces a stable door. The locations of these are shown in this plan.
The biggest window challenge is restoring the cathedral-like perpendicular style gothic windows in the grand saloon, but permit me the luxury of not fretting about this for now. :-) The current focus is getting the rather more manageable windows on the servant's bedroom floor reinstated. Windows are surprisingly one of the most transformative things in restoration, they bring in light, warmth and joy and create the interior space. Full high resolution versions of the plans can be found here.
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| 07-011-A-2 kitchen wing replacement sash window (w24) 23rd november 2007 |
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| 07-011-B-1 kitchen wing replacement window types 22rd august 2008 |
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| 07-011-C-1 kitchen wing new sash window (w27) 11th september 2008 |
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| 07-013-A-1 kitchen wing replacement internal panelled doors 23rd november 2007 |
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| 07-013-B-1 kitchen wing replacement boarded door (d28) 11th september 2008 |
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| 07-013-C-1 kitchen wing replacement hopper type boarded door (d29) 11th september 2008 |
I love technical drawings. My father was an architect, practicing in Venice, and I've always had an appreciation for finely detailed drafts and plans, and these are no exception. I'm on a train heading up to see my mother in Edinburgh for the weekend (having been delayed in Kings X!!). I am looking out the window at the rain and day dreaming of sitting by a fire in an old castle, whilst trying to spot turrets in the woods that I pass. Though I feel like pulling the curtain and dreaming of them for real.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see so many posts of your progress and plans.
Si
Delighted you take pleasure in these plans. When you are next in Scotland and have some free time you are invited to tea and scones in front of one of the fires at the castle. :-) It's taken such a lot of effort to rebuild the fireplaces that we should really take advantage of them. You actually commented before I got the text of the blog post written - the first version of the blog post was just to check whether the images were working OK.
DeleteGolly! I guess the Virgin wifi is better than I thought! Now heading back down but I would love to see that castle, and meet you of course! Thank you for the invitation. I just saw another Post of yours I'm rushing off to read it...
DeleteAll the best
Si