Craigdarroch Castle in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada, is a historic, Victorian-era
Scottish Baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...
mansion. It was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
due to its landmark status in Victoria.
History
It was constructed in the late 19th century as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron
Robert Dunsmuir
Robert Dunsmuir (August 31, 1825April 12, 1889) was a Scottish-Canadian coal mine developer, owner and operator, railway developer, industrialist and politician in British Columbia.
He was recognized as a National Historic Person by the governm ...
and his wife Joan. Robert died in April 1889, 17 months before construction on the castle was completed. His sons Alexander and
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
took over the role of finishing the home after his death. James also commissioned the construction of Victoria's second "castle":
Hatley Castle located in Colwood, British Columbia.
Upon the death of Robert Dunsmuir's widow, Joan, the Craigdarroch estate was sold to land speculator Griffith Hughes for $38,000 who subdivided the estate into building lots.
[Reksten, Terry (1991)]
The Dunsmuir Saga
''. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. p. 200. To stimulate sales during a slow real estate market, Griffiths announced that the home would be the subject of a raffle, to be won by one of the purchasers of the residential parcels carved from the estate. The winner, Solomon Cameron, mortgaged the home to finance other speculative ventures which failed, leaving him broke, and in 1919 ownership of the home passed to one of Cameron's creditors, the
Bank of Montreal.
[
The building later served as a military hospital, college, offices, and a conservatory, before it was re-purposed into a historical museum in 1979. The museum is currently owned by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society, which is a private non-profit society, and is open to the public. The building is a tourist attraction, and receives 150,000 visitors a year.
The building was designated as a ]National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
in 1992.
Since its completion in 1890, the building had six major occupants, including:
* The Dunsmuirs (1890–1908)
* Military Hospital (1919–1921)
* Victoria College (1921–1946)
* Victoria School Board Office (1946–1968)
* Victoria Conservatory of Music
Founded in 1964, the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM) is a music school in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The VCM has earned an outstanding reputation of quality in education, performance and music therapy. As a music school for the whole ...
(1969–1979)
* Craigdarroch Castle museum (1979–Present)
Architecture
Craigdarroch Castle is believed to have cost as much as $500,000 when it was built, and included granite from British Columbia, tile from San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, and an oak staircase prefabricated in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. When originally constructed Craigdarroch stood in grounds comprising of formal gardens in Victoria's Rockland neighbourhood. Craigdarroch Castle has 39 rooms and over .
The four-story Craigdarroch Castle still has lavish furnishings from the 1890s and is known for its stained-glass and intricate woodwork. The Institute for Stained Glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at Craigdarroch Castle.
The initial architect of the castle, Warren Heywood Williams
Warren Heywood Williams (1844 in New York City – January 1888) was an American architect, who spent most of his career working in the U.S. state of Oregon. Starting in 1860, he apprenticed in San Francisco as a draftsman at the architectur ...
, also died before completion of the home. His work was taken over by his associate, Arthur L. Smith, in 1890.
File:Craigdarroch Castle interior, IMG 026.jpg, Stained windows in Craigdarroch Castle, a noted feature of the building.
File:Craigdarroch Castle Billiards Room.jpg, A period exhibit in Craigdarroch's billiards room. The home has served as a historical museum since 1979.
See also
* List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia
This is a list of historic places in the City of Victoria, British Columbia entered on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, whether they are designated federally, provincially or municipally. For a list of historic places in the remainder of ...
References
External links
*
{{Castles in Canada
Heritage sites in British Columbia
History of Victoria, British Columbia
Castles in Canada
National Historic Sites in British Columbia
Scottish baronial architecture
Museums in Victoria, British Columbia
Historic house museums in British Columbia
Houses in British Columbia