Burns Club Atlanta - Scottish Vernacular Architecture: Butt, Ben and Byre

Scottish Vernacular Architecture: Butt, Ben and Byre

One now enters the Atlanta Burns Cottage through the byre, the Scots word for the portion of the cottage where, in Burn’s original birthplace, animals and farm stuffs were housed. Members of the club now use this room for their monthly meetings. While the club is primarily a literary society, many of the members share Burns’ Scottish heritage and display their clan tartan banners along with several plaques and bas-relief panels situated on plastered walls.

To the immediate left is the ben, the innermost room of the family dwelling. Originally there was no door between the living quarters and the byre. The ben represents the combined living room and dormitory for the large Burns family. In the Atlanta Burns Cottage it functions as additional space for club events.

To the far left is found the butt, or the outer room used as kitchen, dining room and parent’s bedroom. The fireplace/stove, cabinet, and plate rack found within this room faithfully portray the original cottage furnishings. The room also features a box-bed that recreates the bed in which Robert Burns was born. The room is now used as an office and space for directors’ meetings. Almost a century of Atlanta Burns Club presidents’ portraits hang on the walls.