William Bruce, 1st Baronet, of Balcasie

Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (circa 1630 – 1 January 1710) is a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes.

(Colvin, Howard, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840, 3rd ed.

(New Haven/London:Yale University Press) 1995, pp 172–76.)

As a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt.

Bruce is a merchant in Rotterdam during the 1650s, and plays a role in the Restoration of Charles II in 1659.

He carries messages between the exiled king and General Monck, and his loyalty to the king is rewarded with lucrative official appointments, including that of Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland, effectively making Bruce the "king's architect".

His patrons include John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, the most powerful man in Scotland at the time, and Bruce rises to become a member of Parliament, and briefly sits on the Scottish Privy Council.

Despite his lack of technical expertise, Bruce becomes the most prominent architect of his time in Scotland.

He works with competent masons and professional builders, to whom he imparts a classical vocabulary; thus his influence is carried far beyond his own aristocratic circle.

Beginning in the 1660s, he builds and remodels a number of country houses, including Thirlestane Castle for the Duke of Lauderdale, and Prestonfield House.

Among his most significant work is his own Palladian mansion at Kinross, built on the Loch Leven estate which he had purchased in 1675.

As the king's architect, he undertakes the rebuilding of the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse in the 1670s, which gives the palace its present appearance.

After the death of Charles II, Bruce loses political favor, and later, following the accession of William and Mary, he is imprisoned more than once as a suspected Jacobite.

However, he manages to continue his architectural work, often providing his services to others with Jacobite sympathies.

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