Interior View of ground floor Breakfast Room from NW Digital image of SU/784
SC 772661
Description Interior View of ground floor Breakfast Room from NW Digital image of SU/784
Date 1982
Catalogue Number SC 772661
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of SU 784
Scope and Content Writing and smoking room, Skibo Castle, Highland This shows the writing and smoking room which was later converted into the billiard room. The doorway in the background has a 'swan-neck' pediment and a moulded surround, which is shouldered at the head, a feature known as a 'lugged' architrave. The room has wood panelling with an ornately carved dado and a parquet floor. The light fitment for the snooker table hangs from the ceiling which has decorative plasterwork and an ornate plaster cornice. The game of billiards was invented in the 16th century but it was not until the 19th century that it became sufficiently popular to have a specially designed room in country houses. The billiard room was kept separate or distant from the main rooms of the house because of the high noise levels and because it was regarded as a private place which served effectively as a men's club. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and made a fortune in the steel industry in the United States of America. Once his daughter was born he decided that she should have a Scottish home, and at the end of the 19th century he bought a large Baronial house at Skibo built in 1880 by Clarke & Bell. In addition to the £85,000 purchase price, he spent a further £2 million in the creation of an even larger mansion, constructed between 1899 and 1903 to the designs of Ross & Macbeth. In 1981 his daughter Margaret decided to sell the estate, and the castle lay empty until 1990 when Peter de Savary paid £10 million for the castle and the 2,832-hectare estate. Some £30 million was then invested in its transformation into the Carnegie Club, a private residential golf and sporting club. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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Attribution: © RCAHMS
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