Joan Dunsmuir, three daughters, and two grandchildren began living in Craigdarroch in 1890. Lavishly furnished bedrooms and sitting rooms belonging to family and more modest servants’ quarters are found on the second and third floors.

But it’s on the fourth floor that you’ll discover the crowning jewel of Craigdarroch, its tower. Rounded doors fit perfectly in circular walls. The spectacular views include downtown Victoria, James Bay, and further out, Mt. Douglas, Mt. Tolmie, and Little Saanich Mountain. Colorful imported English tiles decorate the tower floor. Talk about feeling "above it all"!

Much of the fourth floor is a wide-open dance hall, with an 1879 Steinway piano which visitors with musical ability are invited to play. The self-guided tour takes you up all four floors on one side of the castle, and back down again on the other. Second and third floors house fully and partially restored rooms, as well as public washrooms and volunteer offices.

Specialized rooms are encountered on the first floor on the way out. In front of me, a (presumably) Canadian host was explaining some of the rooms to his foreign guest. "This is the smoking room"… "a room, just for smoking - ?" "Yes, and only for men. And this, is the breakfast room…" "You mean, this room, only for breakfast???" "Yes, the larger dining room was upstairs…" Though opulent and elegant, it does seem a bit redundant.

Exit is through the museum store, formerly the kitchen. As Bob was finishing up his tour inside, I wandered around the historic structure and thought about the castle, its creators and inhabitants. Robert Dunsmuir, self-made laird and entrepreneur, didn’t live to see Craigdarroch’s completion. Its architect, Warren Williams, died only four months after construction began.

Joan Dunsmuir, who lived at Craigdarroch until her death in 1908, reportedly had a strained relationship with her husband already years before his death, and ongoing conflicts and legal issues with her two sons. Delaying marrying his divorced mistress for 20 years due to his mother’s disapproval and financial clout, younger son Alex died only 6 weeks after finally wedding his lover. Older son James eventually became premier of British Columbia, but due to conflict with his mother over Alex’s will, they never spoke to one another again.

Craigdarroch is not handicap accessible.
Open daily 10AM to 4:30PM. Extended hours June 15 – Labor Day 9AM to 7PM.
Rates: $11.50CD adults, $10.75CD seniors, $7.50CD students, $3.50CD age 6-18, free 5 and under.

We viewed Craigdarroch on a volatile Victoria morning, brilliant sun and piercing blue sky vying with white billowy clouds. It’s well worth the $11.50CD admission for self-guided tour. Its 29 rooms on four floors contain 17 fireplaces, extensive wood paneling, a profusion of fine stained glass windows, and period furnishings. Craigdarroch encompasses 25,572 square feet.

We learn from one of the circulating docents that the majority of paneling in the castle is actually pre-fab! More than 2000 white oak panels manufactured in Chicago, were shipped by railroad to the estate. The massive white Main Hall fireplace sports a Shakespeare quote from the tragedy Troilus and Cressida: Welcome ever smiles and farewell goes out sighing.

Indeed, elements of tragedy reoccur frequently in the Dunsmuir family of Craigdarroch. Robert died in 1889, before the castle was completed. Contrary to what he’d promised prior to his death, he left nothing to his two grown sons, who’d been managing much of the family business on the island and in San Francisco. Instead, he left his entire estate to his wife. It took ten years of negotiations between Joan and sons before she gave them title to the San Francisco business, and allowed them to purchase the family coalmines on Vancouver Island.

Wherever you wander in Craigdarroch, you’ll encounter exquisite stained glass windows. All but one is original, considered among the finest collections of Victorian residential stained glass on the West Coast. Curiously, the pamphlet states they "are believed to be" produced by an American studio.

Craigdarroch today is an ongoing labor of love, adopted by Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society. Following Joan’s death in 1909, it was sold and served sequentially as a military hospital, college classrooms, offices for Victoria School Board, and home for Victoria Conservatory of Music. Over time, students carved their initials into the woodwork, rooms were divided up as seen fit, floors linoleumed over, and coat after coat of paint applied.

Since 1969, the Museum Society’s mission has been to restore and conserve the castle as an historic house, to its 1890 condition. A fine art conservator is restoring the hand-painted drawing room ceiling. It’s painstaking work using solvent applied with q-tips and cotton balls. Elaborate fleur-de-lis and lion head designs are once more seeing the light of day after being liberated from underneath five coats of latex paint.
Continue tour and history in Craigdarroch II.