The Dukes of Atholl and the Murray family owned and developed Blair Castle. Cummings Tower, the oldest part, is a six-story tower largely built in the 15th century, though it may retain some 13th-century fabric. Central extensions were added in the 16th century. John Douglas and James Winter built the southern apartments in the mid-18th century, and Archibald Elliot rebuilt the south-east range after an 1814 fire.
The 7th Duke commissioned David Bryce's remodeling in the 1870s, in the Scots Baronial style. James Campbell Walker added a ballroom wing in 1885.
A Jacobite council of war met at the castle on July 26, 1689. Prince Charles Edward Stuart's army occupied it in 1745. A fire on March 10, 2011, collapsed the clock tower roof, and it was restored in 2012. The castle has been open to the public since 1936.
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