This book takes a timely look at how Scotland’s national politics have been expressed in its buildings, exploring the role the architecture of Scotland – in particular its world-famous ‘castle architecture’ – has played the ongoing narrative of Scots national identity.

Scotch Baronial examines many of the country’s most important historic buildings – from the palaces left behind by the ‘lost’ monarchy, to revivalist castles and proud town halls – examining their architectural styles and tracing their wildly fluctuating political and national connotations.

An introduction to a key episode in British architectural history, and a valuable resource for anyone studying the role of architecture in narratives of nationalism and empire globally, Scotch Baronial ends by bringing the story into the 21st century, exploring how contemporary ‘neo-modernist’ architecture in today’s Scotland, as exemplified in the Holyrood parliament, relates to concepts of national identity in architecture over the previous centuries.