by Patricia M. Lee

as it romance or business that pushed Robert Dunsmuir to build Craigdarroch Castle? Historians differ but I like to believe romance played the bigger part in its building.

The castle’s history begins with the story of Dunsmuir’s rags-to-riches life. Legend states when he left Ayreshire, Scotland, he promised his wife, Joan, that if she would travel to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, he would build her a dream castle. With two small daughters, they traveled ten thousand miles to reach their destination. Robert Dunsmuir was just 25 years old.

The castle’s history begins with the story of Dunsmuir’s rags-to-riches life.

Experience in the coal mines of Scotland helped him find work in the mines of Vancouver Island. Gradually, over the years, he became a coal baron and the wealthiest man in the area.

Many years later he began the construction of the castle, which was started in l887 and completed in 1890. Similar to a laird’s castle in medieval times, it was given a Gaelic name, Craigdarroch, meaning “rocky oak place.” The building dominates a hill overlooking the city of Victoria with a view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains.

Designed and built by several different architects, it occupies over 25,000 square feet, and is four stories high with steeples, high pitched slate roofs, and a tower. Five railcars shipped 2,129 oak panels from Chicago. There are 17 fireplaces, seven chimney stacks, and gas and electric wiring, as well as running water for indoor plumbing. This was all quite progressive for that era.

Guests enter through a castle gatehouse, under the porte-cochère to the first floor which contains the drawing room (a representation of a room in the Palace of the Doges), main hall, dining room and library. The main hall and stairwell contains white oak paneling and opens into the garden. Robert and Joan’s original portraits line the fireplace in the library. With no elevators, we climbed 87 stairs to tour the mansion, resting at the organ alcove with its organ dated 1895. We saw Joan and her daughter’s bedrooms and the original speaking tubes between the bedrooms which allowed the family to communicate to the other floors. The third floor has the billiard room and still contains graffiti waxed into the walls when college students occupied the house.

Visitors can just imagine the parties held on the fourth floor; check the dance cards covering the wall and try playing a few notes on the 1897 Steinway piano. We admired the exquisite stained glass windows, intricate mahogany woodwork, and parquet floors throughout, and pondered what life was like in those opulent times.

The wealthiest, most influential man in British Columbia died just before his dream castle could be completed. His wife inherited it and lived there with her children until her death in 1908 when the property then became, at various times, a military hospital, an office for the Victoria School Board, and a Conservatory of Music. Today the castle is an historic museum where visitors can see a work-in-progress, while painting and renovating continues to return the castle to its glorious past. It has been designated a National Heritage Site.

The castle reflects one man’s dream and a promise fulfilled. It took Robert Dunsmuir 35 years, but a promise is a promise.

Craigdarroch Castle: tel. 250/592- 5323; www.craigdarrochcastle.com.

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