The Donald Unveils Scotland Clubhouse Design; Liberace Would Be Disappointed

Frank Urquhart reports that the building is lacking the signature Donald traits (so far): bright white, gold Trump crest adoring the most prominent place possible and other homages to the very best of Liberace and Hussein's palaces.

Some stiff upper-lipper liked it:

Neil Baxter, secretary of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, condemned initial design drawings for the luxury hotel at the development as "Hollywood comes to Aberdeenshire."

But he was full of praise for the look of the clubhouse planned for the heart of the controversial £750 million golf resort and for Douglas Forrest, from Huntly-based firm Acanthus Architects, which designed the building.

Mr Baxter said golfers arriving from across the globe to play at Menie could not fail to be impressed by the clubhouse. "It does harken back to a long history," he said. "This is not a work of overt modernism. It's a work that connects with the historic, but it's honest in the sense that it's not saying that this is a building that dates from 1850.

"It's a building that might have echoes of architecture from 1850, but it's very much of now.

"And the quality of the materials is exemplary, and that always tells in a building.

Well, wait until Rocco and Moose arrive to build it!

A BBC story explains how the building came to be so, uh, un-Donald like.

Mr Trump's golf development on the Menie estate on the coast is nearing completion.

Work on the controversial £750m project, to also feature a hotel and homes, began a year ago.
The images show a single-story building made of granite, slate and glass, described as "second to none".

The clubhouse - designed by Acanthus Architects - forms part of the next phase of the development.

Sarah Malone, executive vice president of Trump International Scotland, said: "We've spent many months refining and perfecting the permanent clubhouse design and will submit our planning application to Aberdeenshire Council in the coming weeks.