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Queensberry House

 

 

 

Queensberry House can be seen to the left of the Scottish parliament building, white with the red roof.

Queensberry House is a 17th century Category A listed building in the Canongate, Edinburgh, Scotland, incorporated into the Scottish Parliament complex. It contains the office of the Presiding Officer, two Deputy Presiding Officers, the Parliament's Chief Executive, and other staff.

The Georgian architecture style house was built in c. 1667 for Dame Margaret Douglas of Balmakellie, and bought by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry in c. 1689.

The most famous resident is probably James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry who was influential behind the Treaty of Union in 1707.
The same evening the 2nd Duke was signing the Act of Union, his son, the insane Earl of Drumlanrig, is said to have roasted a servant boy on a spit in an oven in the kitchens. The oven can still be seen in the Parliament's Allowances Office.

From 1803 to 1996 the building was used as an an army barracks, a public hospital, a House of Refuge and as a geriatric hospital.

Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novel Set in Darkness, first published in 2000 is partly set in Queensberry House during the reconstruction for the new parliament building.

 

 

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