Craigdarroch Castle & View of Victoria from the Tower British Columbia Canada

Us at Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria Britiah Columbia. This castle has 39 rooms and over 20000 square feet (1900 m2). It was constructed in the 1890s as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan. Robert died in April 1889, more than a year before construction on the castle was completed. His sons Alexander and James took over the role of finishing the castle after his death. The initial architect of the castle, Warren Williams, also died before completion of the castle. His work was taken over by his associate, Arthur L. Smith, in 1890. James Dunsmuir also commissioned the construction of Victoria’s second castle; Hatley Castle located in Colwood, British Columbia. Craigdarroch Castle is believed to have cost as much as $500000 when it was built, and included granite from British Columbia, tile from San Francisco, and an oak staircase prefabricated in Chicago. When originally constructed Craigdarroch stood in grounds comprising 27 acres (110000 m2) of formal gardens in Victoria's Rockland neighbourhood.[3] Upon the death of Robert Dunsmuir's widow, Joan, the Craigdarroch estate was sold to land speculator Griffith Hughes for $38000 who subdivided the estate into buildings lots. [4] To stimulate sales during a slow real estate market, Griffiths announced that the castle 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 ...

Channel: YouTube Video Length: 2m 12s Date Found: Mon, Mar 07 2011 8:54 AM Category: Travel Date Produced: Mon, Mar 07 2011 12:21 AM View Count: 0