 | Kinloch Castle | Mr George Bullough, proprietor of the Island of Rum, is carrying on important improvements on the island. A mansion-house, the building of which was commenced last summer, is being erected, at a cost of nearly £13,000, on a site facing the entrance to Kinloch Bay, eastward. The main tower is to be 60 feet in height, and the other four towers, which occupy the corners of the rectangular building, 40 feet The basement floor, which contains the wine cellars, larder, and heating - apparatus chambers, is 152 feet by 130 feet On the ground floor is the drawing-room, dining-room, library, and morning-room, boudoir, business- room, smoking-room, hat and cloak rooms, luggage rooms, servants' hall, and kitchen offices. At the south end there is a conservatory, 23 feet by 36 feet The quadrangle in the centre of the building is 45 feet by 41 feet, and to the right of it is the ball-room, 23 feet by 31 feet The entrance-hall is 40 feet by 26 feet On the first floor, besides the upper part of the ball-room, are eighteen bedrooms, dressing - rooms, and bathrooms. The stone employed is red sandstone from the Corrie quarries in Arran. The woodwork generally is to be of oak, and for decorative purposes walnut and mahogany are to be used. The staircases are to be finished in oak, and the bath-rooms and lavatories laid with encaustic tiles. The windows have gunmetal casements, and all the flooring is fireproof, on the Fawcett system. The architects are Messrs Leeming and Leeming, London. The improvements on the island are not limited to the erection of the mansion. New gardens, greenhouses, and vineries are being formed at the cost of over £5,000. Arable ground near the old residence is being utilised for planting trees, and a large area of hill ground is being drained for farming purposes. Two other contracts have been let - one for the construction of half a mile of avenue leading from the pier to the mansion house, and erecting a bridge over the river at a cost of about £2,000; another of £3,000 for making a communication by means of a canal between a fresh-water loch and the sea, for the purpose of rearing trout and salmon. Another part of the improvements going on simultaneously is the construction of a highway from one end of the island to the other. The estate carpenters are also busy erecting accommodation for 25 horses [Building News 14 January 1898 p57]
Leeming & Leeming advertised from Royal Hotel, Oban where they seem to have had a site office. Only the north, south and east sides constructed at that time, complete enough for occupation by 1900, with further work 1901. Richard Fielding Farrar was in charge of the job, James Reid was clerk of works, main contractor John Copeland, joiner, Uddingston, masonwork Renwick & Morton; hydro electric plant etc by G H Woods & Co, Blackburn. It was built of stone from the Corrie quarry, Isle of Arran, cut at Corrie and shopped to site. |