Background
He was born in Benvie near Dundee, where his father was the parish minister.
He was born in Benvie near Dundee, where his father was the parish minister.
He was the brother of William Playfair the engineer, and the mathematician John Playfair. James Playfair"s works include Melville Castle in Midlothian and Townley Hall in Ireland. His most famous building is Cairness House (1791–1797), in Aberdeenshire, which used revolutionary forms of Neoclassicism and is unique in British architecture of the period.
Cairness House shows the influence of the French architects Étienne-Louis Boullée and Claude Nicholas Ledoux, and is also notable for having the earliest complete Egyptian room in Britain.
