ARCHITECTURE:
Craigdarroch Castle is Victoria’s prime remaining monument to personal and capital enterprise – and a dramatic symbol of the Rockland area. The initial architect was W.H. Williams of Portland, OR, who, as Robin Ward described in Echoes of Empire: Victoria & Its Remarkable Buildings, “designed what he thought a Scottish Baronial home should look like.” He certainly captured the moody romanticism of the time. Craigdarroch looks as if it leapt off the pages of a novel by Sir Walter Scott. Williams had designed the Bank of British Columbia in Victoria, 1020-1022 Government St, Downtown. Williams died shortly after the first contract was signed, and new evidence suggests that responsibilty may have been shared equally between Williams and Smith. Unfortunately the castle plans have been lost.*
The building’s basic configuration – a central core with a hipped roof, cross gables, and an asymmetric wraparound porch – is Queen Anne, as were many of the creations of architects inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque style of the late 19th Century. This style was popular among the monied classes in Eastern Canada at the time – Timothy Eaton’s Toronto house, for example. Other evidence of the Richardsonian Romanesque approach is the rough-textured ashlar stonework that covers most of the structure, the round-topped arches over many of the windows, and the post-and-lintel construction of the porch with its squat columns and cushion capitals. Yet another style, Chateauesque, can be seen in the busy verticality of the steeply pitched, crested roof, with its many tall, narrow chimneys, candle-snuffer tower caps, corbelled eaves, and finials on the sides and tops of gables. The several dormer windows with basket-handle arches over them are another typical Chateauesque feature. This was also a favourite residential style of Eastern millionaires, with the Vanderbilt mansion Biltmore a notable example. The colonnaded loggia is a feature of the Italian Renaissance style.
The 25,572-square-foot, 4½-storey building has 2,128 oak panels, 17 fireplaces, 87 stairs and 39 rooms. The castle was equipped with gas and electric lighting, hot and cold running water for indoor plumbing, a telephone and a burglar alarm system. It was set in over 28 acres of gardens, terraces, lawns, orchard and Garry Oak meadow. The sandstone was quarried in Koksilah near Duncan on Vancouver Island, fireplace tiles came from San Francisco, unfading red roof slate from Vermont, Gladding, McBean terracotta from California, and the oak staircase was prefabricated in Chicago. The total cost estimates range from $185,000 to $500,000. “Craigdarroch” means “rocky oak place” in Gaelic and it is thought to have been named for the Scottish marriage home of Annie Laurie.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1887-1908: Robert Hamilton Dunsmuir (b. Ayrshire, SCT 1825-1889) married Joanna “Joan” Olive (née White, b. Kilmarnock, SCT 1828-1908) in Riccarton, Ayrs, SCT in 1847. Robert’s fortune, at the time one of the largest on the W coast, began in the coalfields of Vancouver Island where he toiled 15 years, after arriving from Scotland as a HBC contract miner in 1851. An undocumented story says that he promised his wife a “castle” if she would come with him to Canada. In 1869 Dunsmuir discovered a major coal seam at Diver Lake near Nanaimo and set up his own company, Wellington Collieries. He later parlayed this into ownership or part-ownership of shipping lines, the E&N Railway and Albion Iron Works.
The Dunsmuirs had two sons and eight daughters most of them already married with homes of their own when Robert died. Elder son James (1525 Shasta Pl), served as BC’s Lt-Gov in 1906-09. In 1890 Joan moved in with three unmarried daughters and two grandchildren, including Elizabeth Harvey (582 St Charles St), and lived there until her death. The castle became a hub of Victoria’s social life. One of the most lavish events was the 1891 wedding of Jessie Dunsmuir to Sir Richard Musgrave, Irish baronet. It was attended by 300 guests and the bride had 31 attendants.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1908-10: The Dunsmuirs had their share of family problems, with estrangements between Joan and both sons, and a complex financial situation when Joan died. The five surviving daughters had bought the castle for a token amount from Joan before she died, but none was prepared to buy out the others, so they sold. House contents were sold at auction and the estate was bought by Griffith R. Hughes (1385 Manor Rd). He was interested in the potential of suburban development. Recognizing that the castle itself was something of a liability, he subdivided the land into 144 lots plus a large lot surrounding the castle. He had trouble finding buyers, so devised a lottery system to attract buyers. Interested parties paid $2,750 for the guarantee of a lot, but with the actual piece of land decided by lottery. Buyers were also eligible for a second lottery for ownership of the castle.
1910-19: The lucky/unlucky winner of the castle was contractor and President of Westholme Lumber Co Solomon Cameron (b. Cape Traverse, PEI 1863-1939), who won Lot 13. His brother Thomas Alexander Cameron (b. PEI 1868-1917) and wife Bertha J (née Waye, b. PEI 1872-1952) lived in it until 1917. Solomon had no interest in it except as an asset on which to raise money. But his financial dealings did not go well and in 1919 the Bank of Montréal foreclosed on his mortgage.
1919-21: The first lessee with BMO was the federal Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment. They set up a hospital for incurable WWI veterans who needed specialized long-term care. The Prince of Wales opened the hospital in September 1919, by which time the castle’s interior had undergone what the federal government called “a thorough renovation.” But by 1921 the government was reorganizing veterans’ hospitals into larger institutions.
1921-46: Victoria College, forerunner of University of Victoria, was the next tenant. Iconic Canadian author and broadcaster Pierre Berton (b. Whitehorse, YT 1920-2004), a student here from 1937-39, famously carved his initials in the billiard room window frame. Other distinguished alumni of Victoria College during these years were artists Bill Reid (b. Victoria 1920-1998) and Jack Shadbolt (b. Southend-on-Sea, ENG 1909-1998), and Dr. Frances Kelsey (b. Cobble Hill, BC 1919-2015). [A renowned pharmacologist who prevented the release of thalidomide into the US market, Dr. Kelsey was presented the US President’s Award for Distinguished Civilian Service by President Kennedy in 1962.] By 1946 enrolment at the college had led to serious over-crowding, due partly to returning WWII veterans. The building was considered a firetrap and health hazard, and the provincial government moved the college out in 1946.
1946-68: Greater Victoria School Board bought Craigdarroch for its offices. This required more “renovation” to create small offices out of the larger spaces used by the college.
1968-79: Craigdarroch housed Victoria Conservatory of Music, which in 1997 moved to the old Metropolitan United Church, 1411 Quadra St .
1959-present: A group of citizens formed the Society for the Preservation and Maintenance of Craigdarroch Castle, with a mandate to conserve the historic landmark and open it to the public. After the Conservatory moved out the Society moved into high gear with its restoration program. The castle is now owned and operated by The Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society.
The Greater Victoria School Board bought Craigdarroch and moved its offices in. This required more “renovation” to create small offices out of the larger spaces used by the college. The school board remained at the castle until 1968. Craigdarroch then housed the Victoria Conservatory of Music until 1979.
In 1959 a group of Victoria citizens formed the Society for the Preservation and Maintenance of Craigdarroch Castle, with a mandate to conserve the historic landmark and open it to the public. After the music conservatory moved out the Society moved into high gear with its restoration program. The castle is now owned and operated by The Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society.
The Society has acquired, by gifts and through purchase, many of the Dunsmuirs’ larger items of domestic furnishing, including Black Forest carvings, a number of gilt-framed oil paintings, the oak dining table and a variety of chairs, and a substantial collection of other Dunsmuir material. In the 1990s they began restoration of the drawing-room ceiling which had been painted over several times. The original artist is not known. It took 12 years to uncover the 1,000+ square feet of ceiling and frieze. 1999 saw the unveiling of a replicated art glass window in the drawing room. This replication was based on a long-lost photograph of the original, which was seriously damaged in a 1927 snowball fight among Victoria College students. The window is based on Sir Frederic Leighton’s (1830-1896) painting Odalisque. A roof restoration project was completed in 2000 followed by an on-going program of sandstone conservation. Other conservation projects include the 18-foot retaining wall surrounding the S lawn and, recently, the third-floor bathroom. This bathroom had been altered in 1919 when the house became a veteran’s hospital and little remained of the original room apart from some piping and floor tiles.
Nearby houses have been purchased by The Castle Society in recent years, allowing for development of the castle and grounds. A visitor centre and offices have been developed in 1070 Joan Cr which has freed castle rooms for restoration and visitor presentation. Craigdarroch consistently wins awards as the Best Heritage Site in Victoria and it is often used as a film location. [The Glitter Dome, 1984 with James Garner, Margot Kidder and John Lithgow; Little Women, 1994 with Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon; The Man Who Wouldn’t Die, 1994 with Roger Moore, Malcolm McDowell and Nancy Allen; Spooky House, 2002 with Ben Kingsley, Mercedes Ruehl and Matt Weinberg; The Boy, 2016 with Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell and Jim Norton; The Doctor’s Case, 2018 with William B. Davis, Denise Crosby, Michael Coleman and J.P. Winslow.]
There is a year-round program of drama and music and a large team of active volunteers, including docents. Annual visitation ranges between 120,000 and 140,000 people.
*From research by Bruce W. Davies