BIFMO Project | Bowhill House

In the Buccleuch archives, there are stories caught in scraps of parchment, faded floor plans, and the swooping curvature of a chair’s slipper foot. Some of those stories are about places we can readily visit today, like right here at Bowhill, or our sister-estates, Boughton House, Drumlanrig Castle and Dalkeith Country Park, while others instead offer tantalising glimpses of buildings lost to time.

Montagu House, Whitehall is one of those places. The grand home, built from 1731-1733, fell out of use and was eventually demolished. Today, the Ministry of Defence Main Building — a grade I listed building in its own right — stands there instead.

With support from the Furniture History Society, graduate students from programs in the United States and the United Kingdom have started to bring Montagu House, Whitehall back to street view.

Two projects discuss the dining room’s original design at two seperate points in history. The first, is the 18th Century when the 2nd Duke of Montagu called Montagu House home. While the second, details the changes made for the 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and the Duchess Elizabeth in 1805-08, the Regency period.

Furnishings, artworks, famous faces, and even an animal or two make their way into these histories.

These projects should be considered contextual reimaginings of the room, rather than to-scale recreations. There are several reasonable ways to interpret the presence of a painting if its exact location was never stated, and inventories might point to a few different forks that could have been used at dinner. Sometimes, the role of a historian can be likened to that of a stage director, carefully reading over – and between – the lines of a play to present scenes that best reflect both the characters and the spaces that witnessed their lives.

Welcome to Montagu House, Whitehall.

Prepare to dine along the Thames…

Project One: The 18th Century by Estrella Salgado and Elizabeth Riddick

Estrella Salgado is a recent graduate of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, where she wrote her Master’s thesis on post-Vatican II architecture. Previously, she received her Bachelor’s in History and Master’s in Educational Studies from the University of Michigan. She is currently a Graduate Intern in the President’s Office at the Getty Center, where she assists with strategic planning and visits the Sèvres porcelain cases whenever possible.

Elizabeth Riddick recently completed an MA in Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. Her thesis examined representations and descriptions of doors and windows in architectural treatises, paintings, and novels from c.1740-1820. She received her undergraduate degree in Architectural History from the University of Virginia.

Discover the Dining Room of Montagu House in the time of the 2nd Duke of Montagu.

Topic One: Inherited Taste | Read Now
Topic Two: Stepping into the 18th Century Dining Room | Read Now
Topic Three: Duke John’s Guest List | Read Now
Topic Four: On the Menu | Read Now

Project Two: Early 19th Century by Lisa L. Weishaupt

Lisa L. Weishaupt is a graduate of the MSc Programme in Global Premodern Art: History, Heritage and Curation at the University of Edinburgh. Her Master thesis analysed a 1790 intarsia patchwork quilt from the former Austrian Habsburg Empire. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in History and History of Art from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Lisa is currently pursuing another Master’s degree in Art History and Ancient History at the University of Basel.

Discover the Regency Dining Room of Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch | Read Now

About the Project

The project was a collaboration between BIFMO, the Furniture History Society, graduate students from programs in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust, with grant funding from the Iris Foundation.

“This project allowed the Buccleuch archives to be seen and interpreted in a new and innovative way. The students were given the raw archival material by Crispin Powell, Archivist, and allowed to interpret it in a way they saw fitting. They were tasked with recreating a space which no longer exists nor any images. We were excited to see what they came up with and have done a wonderful job bringing to life a room which saw many a momentous occasion!’”
Dr Craig Thomas, Buccleuch Assistant Archivist