page_title: John Smith (architect)
section_title: Country houses
hierarchical_section_title: John Smith (architect) / Works / Country houses
caption_attribution_description: Observatory at Drinnie's Wood, near Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire. The observatory was built for the Laird of Pitfour to watch his racehorses training
context_page_description: John Smith was a Scottish architect. His career started in 1805 and he was appointed as the official city architect of Aberdeen in 1807, the first person to hold this post. Together with Archibald Simpson, he contributed significantly to the architecture of Aberdeen, and many of the granite buildings that gave the city the nickname 'The Granite City' or also 'The Silver City' are attributed to them.
  Smith was the son of a successful builder and architect and his own son, William, continued the family tradition by also becoming an architect. After completing his training in London, Smith quickly became established throughout the north-east of Scotland. He secured private commissions to design, renovate or alter numerous country houses, parish churches and castles; his official capacity as City Architect ensured he is also credited with several extensive public works. Towards the middle of his career around the 1830s, as his individuality developed, he gained the nickname of 'Tudor Johnny'; an indication his designs were starting to favour a Tudor Gothic styling.
context_section_description: Smith undertook considerable work for the Fergusons at their Pitfour estate in Aberdeenshire. Starting in 1809, the third laird of Pitfour, James Ferguson commissioned him to design a new house. This was a three-storey house, 98 feet (30 m) square by33 feet (10 m) high, with 365 windows. There were Greek pediments included on top of the side elevations, stone margins set into the rendered walls and it conveyed an impression of northern Italy. Over the following years, Smith designed several other structures within the policies at Pitfour. These included: the horseshoe-shape, neo-classical two-storey riding stables to the rear of the mansion during the time of the fifth laird in 1820; gatehouses and bridges; a small replica six-bay Greek Doric temple, styled after the Temple of Theseus; and the Observatory, an eight-sided crenellated three-storey tower.
  Among other country houses featuring Smith's designs was the Neo-Greek style Dunecht House in 1820. Comprising two storeys and a full basement, it was constructed from granite. A low parapet hid the slate, low pitched roof. The original Smith designed house was later extensively expanded by William, his son. Work was undertaken at Haddo House on the kitchens and peripheral buildings in 1843. He returned there in 1845 and built the gate houses at the North and South entrances. Constructed in a rough coarse granite, these single-storey buildings are in a Tudor style. Sometime before 1830 William Rickart Hepburn commissioned Smith to design Rickarton House in Kincardineshire. Forglen House near Turriff was designed by Smith for Sir Robert Abercromby. The new mansion house was described by architectural historian Charles McKean as an "Elizabethan Gothic confection".
caption: The Observatory at Drinnie's Wood on the Pitfour estate was designed by Smith
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