Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 37, 2007

Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c.1630 – 1 January 1710) was a Scottish architect, sometimes viewed as Scotland's first significant architect. He was a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, and has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren.

Bruce played a role in the Restoration of Charles II, carrying messages between the exiled king and General Monck, and was rewarded with lucrative official appointments, including that of Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland, effectively the "king's architect". His patrons included John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, the most powerful man in Scotland at the time, and Bruce rose to become a member of parliament, and briefly sat on the Scottish Privy Council.

Despite his lack of technical expertise, Bruce became the most prominent "gentleman-architect" of his time in Scotland. Beginning in the 1660s he built and remodelled a number of country houses, including