Estate houses in Scotland or
Scottish country houses, are large houses usually on
landed estates in Scotland. They were built from the sixteenth century, after defensive
castles began to be replaced by more comfortable residences for royalty, nobility and local
lairds. The origins of Scottish estate houses are in aristocratic emulation of the extensive building and rebuilding of royal residences, beginning with
Linlithgow, under the influence of
Renaissance architecture. In the 1560s the unique Scottish style of the
Scots baronial emerged, which combined features from medieval castles,
tower houses, and
peel towers with Renaissance plans, in houses designed primarily for residence rather than defence.