Princess Louise’s romantic hideaway
The stunning home built for daughter of Queen Victoria by architect she ‘secretly loved’
IWILL never love a home like I love this one,’ says Joseph Brown of his historic waterfront idyll, which stands on the Rosneath peninsula on the banks of Gare Loch in Scotland. ‘So I want to sell it to the right guy, who will live in it full-time and take care of it.’
Dr Brown, an American dental surgeon, bought the Ferry Inn, originally built for Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise, a decade ago and has spent £1.5million restoring it. The Grade I listed property – which has an extraordinary triplestacked chimney – was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, architect of the Cenotaph in Whitehall, and is one of just two houses he built in Scotland (the other is Greywalls at Gullane, East Lothian).
Princess Louise, Victoria’s fourth daughter, is said to have been in love with Lutyens, who was just 27 when he built the house for her in 1896, while she was married to the Marquess of Lorne, heir to the dukedom of Argyll. The Ferry Inn can certainly be described as a romantic hideaway, with breathtaking views of the sea loch from every window.
After Louise died in 1939, the property was sold to the US Navy, which had a base on the Rosneath peninsula in the Second World War.
The Ferry Inn was used as an officers’ mess, and visiting dignitaries included Bob Hope, Dinah Shore and screen siren Olivia de Havilland, who came to entertain the troops. Winston Churchill also visited twice en route to meetings with Franklin Roosevelt.
Today the fivebedroom, threebathroom stone property has a modern designer kitchen with a French range oven and two fridges and freezers. It stands in four acres of land surrounded by an 800ft stretch of private shingle beach near the village of Rosneath.
DR BROWN and his wife Diane found the house, which is a onehour drive from Glasgow Airport, on the internet and bought it as a sanctuary to spend the summer months far from the searing heat of their home in Kentucky.
‘It’s heartbreaking but we are in our 70s and it’s getting difficult to get across in the spring and come back in the fall with our two dogs, Sid and Lola,’ says Dr Brown, who has Scottish roots. ‘The grounds are significant too and it needs a young family to take it over and live there full-time – there are some great schools nearby and the house is just a short walk from the village.’
Dr Brown, who has three dental surgeries in the States, keeps a car at the house and moors a 23ft motor launch in the neighbouring marina. He likes to sail over to the Isle of Bute for l unch with Diane and do a spot of fishing. ‘Most of all we love to watch the sunrises, sunsets, rainbows and moonbows from our Romeo-and-Juliet balcony,’ he muses. ‘The views just take your breath away.’ He adds: ‘Princess Louise asked Lutyens to design the house so you could see the sea from every window – and you can. That’s why we don’t have any curtains and the house is always flooded with light.’ Dr Brown consulted Gavin Stamp, an Oxford Lutyens scholar, before undertaking the renovation work. ‘I was so in awe of Lutyens that I wanted to honour his work by doing a good job – even though it cost me over £1.5million,’ he says. Dr Brown bought the neighbouring one-bedroom cottage separately in 2009. It was originally designed as a ballroom, but now serves as guest accommodation.
‘We decorated the main house in the kind of colour scheme Lutyens would have used, which gives the place a very contemporary feel,’ he says of the property, which was also used as a hospital for Boer War veterans.
The Ferry Inn takes its name from the original inn that occupied the site and served travellers on the ferry that travelled from the Rosneath peninsula to Rhu and Helensburgh on the other side of the loch.
The local village has a Chinese restaurant and post office, but Dr Brown says: ‘Once you’ve stocked up and filled the fridges you don’t have to go anywhere.’
He adds: ‘I will miss the sunsets, the incredible peace, the deer that sleep in our garden at night, the starry skies and the views. The only thing we haven’t seen are the Northern Lights – which are said to be spectacular.’
The house is on the market for £795,000.