View from W

Description View from W

Date 1982

Catalogue Number SU 828

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 772688

Scope and Content Coach Stables from west, Skibo Castle, Highland This shows the coach stables and part of the pair of two-storeyed dwelling houses on the left that were probably built by Ross & Macbeth in the early 20th century. The two raised louvered ventilators improve interior air circulation and the glass skylights allow more natural light into the building. The crowstepped gable of the dwelling house is topped by two octagonal chimney-stacks. The coach stables were originally built as an electric house and private telephone exchange for the castle. The electric house (block on right) was converted to house some of the 17 cars that Andrew Carnegie kept on the estate for family and visitor use. The telephone exchange was probably contained in the block on the left, which was converted into two dwelling houses most likely for the chauffeurs and their families. 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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