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Hunting Lodge, now in commercial use, set within a designed landscape (NO08NE0045). It was built in 1895-98 by A Marshall MacKenzie for the Duke and Duchess of Fife as their autumn residence on the site of an earlier house, which had been damaged in the Muckle Spate of 1829. Originally known as 'Dalmore' or 'Delmore' House, it is thought that a lodge may have occupied this site as far back as the 15th Century. The 18th Century lodge was a two-storey, three-bay house with flanking pavilions, and included a prison cell, and from circa 1760 onwards was known as Mar Lodge. It is shown on the 1st edition OS map as a U-plan building open to the south, with L-plan east and west wings, and it is depicted as 'Old Mar Lodge'. The current building is shown on the 2nd edition OS map. It is built roughly on the same plan, however the rectangular east and west wings are splayed, and there are smaller wings to the rear creating a U-plan section with a rectangular court. The present lodge is a large two-storey Tudor/Highland style multi-gabled building, constructed from Aberdeen-bonded granite, with mock-Tudor half-timber gables and a tiled roof with carved barge boards and overhanging eaves between gables. It has a five-bay central section with wings at obtuse angles forming a splayed U-plan open to the south, with a large single-storey service court to the north, with a ballroom to the west (NO08NE0039) and a chapel to the east (NO08NE0055). The first-floor openings have stone mullions and transoms, and there are a variety of distinctive tall wallhead and ridge stacks, some with chevron detail. It formerly had a tree-trunk verandah running around the house, but now only the porch survives. The lodge was damaged by fire in 1991, and the interior was reconstructed using old photographs to the appearance of the late-19th/early-20th century lodge, with ornate decorative plasterwork and extensive timber panelling. There are several ornately carved doorpieces, including pedimented doors to main lobby, and large decorative chimneypieces to the principal rooms. An archaeological evaluation in advance of garden restoration works to the east showed that almost all trace of the original early 18th century Mar Lodge and its associated gardens had been removed during the late 1980s and through ploughing. A single length of wall foundation and various spreads of mortar were the last remnants of the old lodge. A desk-based survey of Mar Lodge estate was carried out in 1998 for NTS. Five structures of the estate were surveyed in 2001 by Kirkdale Archaeology - Geldie and Bynack Lodges, Ruigh nan Clach, Luibeg and the Porter's Lodge.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)