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Victoria, BC
Located a short drive or a leisurely
walk from the downtown harbour, just off Fort Street at 1050 Joan
Crescent, Victoria, BC, Canada, Craigdarroch Castle is a beautiful
historic Victorian-era mansion, built in the 1890s by wealthy BC
coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. It is now owned by the Craigdarroch
Castle Historical Museum Society and almost totally funded by its
150,000 annual visitors.
Craigdarroch Castle was built as the home of
Robert Dunsmuir, the richest man in nineteenth century British Columbia.
The Castle was designed by Portland, Oregon architect,
Warren H. Williams. Williams died only four months after construction
began on the Castle. The responsibility for building Craigdarroch
Castle was given to and successfully completed by Williams' associate,
Arthur L. Smith in 1890.
The Drawing Room features hand-painted and stencilled
ceiling decoration with lions' heads, garlands, birds and bouquets.
The Entrance Hall and Dining Room are panelled with rich golden
oak imported from Chicago. The Castle's windows represent the largest
and finest in-situ collection of residential stained glass in Canada.
The story of the Dunsmuir family and their
rise from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of wealth and power
in western North America is complex and fascinating. Theirs is a
story of profound courage and achievement, ultimately ending in
tragedy.
Robert Dunsmuir died in April 1889, more than
a year before the Castle was completed. After his death, his sons,
James and Alexander, assumed the melancholy task of finishing the
Castle for their widowed mother.
10 months after Joan's death in 1908, Craigdarroch
was sold and the contents were auctioned off.
For sixty years, the Castle housed various
public institutions. It was once a Military Hospital and was known
as Victoria College for twenty-five years. The building is now owned
and being restored by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum
Society.
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