Something About Mount Stuart

It’s a Bute, Clark.

I’m picking up the conversation about The Mansion in the Mist from where I left off, explicitly, Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland. The Irish house does not really strike me as impressive sounding as the Autarch mansion:

"...a huge mansion of black stone. Gargoyles and other strange decoration sprouted from its clifflike sides. The windows ere narrow and set deep into the walls, and thick tangles of bush and weed hid the foundations. The mansion was topped by a steep slate roof with round dormer windows set in it. Anthony could see tall shadowy chimneys capped by elaborate iron covers that reminded him of Chinese pagodas. Near the mansion was a large garden full of twisted weeds and vines, and statues stood here and there amid the growths" (Mansion, 17).

Edward Gorey created a fairly impressive image of this as part of the wrap-around dust-jacket on the original hardcover edition.  Oddly enough, the one structure in the real world visually like Gorey’s illustration is the majestic red sandstone Mount Stuart House in Scotland. Did Mount Stewart inspire the text?  Did Mount Stuart inspire the image?  Do I know what I'm talking about?  I do not. That any of this is connected is all just a theory.  Anyway -- 

The Mount Stuart House is located on Scotland’s Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. It was designed by the third Marquess of Bute, who was described as the "best unprofessional architect of his generation" and nationally known architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson. Described as the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in Britain, it has included features that were highly innovative at the time, including an indoor heated swimming pool (the first of its type in any building) and the first house in Scotland to have electric lighting installed. Mount Stuart's major features include the colonnaded Marble Hall at the center of the main block and the Marble Chapel, whose elaborate spired tower is the tallest part of the building.

Whether it inspired a part of Mansion or not, the Mount Stuart House is a great example of Gothic Revival Style architecture.