Jute baron at the heart of a real period drama
If four walls could harbour as much drama and decadence as the life of their owner, the property schedule for Duncarse House would be a charttopping blockbuster. The baron who commissioned the construction of the elegant townhouse was knee-deep in 19th Century politics, illicit love affairs, wild philanthropy and linked to one of Britain’s greatest military victories.
A relative is even said to have tried to rescue Tsar Nicholas II and his family following the Russian Revolution.
None of this wonderful derring-do is evident from the i mposing Italianate Victorian villa for sale in Dundee today.
Duncarse House, on the city’s Perth Road, has four public rooms and five bedrooms and retains many of the features created for the original owner.
These include the wonderful atrium-style skylight on the upper landing, beautiful cornicing and ceiling roses, working shutters on all windows and – impressively – all original fireplaces.
Unusually for a semidetached property, the house comes with 1.5 acres of land which includes i mposing views over the Tay.
The scale of the apartments is simply breathtaking, stretching to a height that could seriously diminish the appearance of the furniture which graces each room. Apartments this tall are more usually seen in stately homes.
But then the architect of Duncarse House had a reputation for grand designs of his own. Only four years before he created this fine Dundee home, Charles Wilson had won a design competition to plan Glasgow’s Park district.
This carefully sculpted collection of townhouses and tenements became one of the most admired urban residential developments in Europe.
Today, its residents are fighting plans to ‘complete’ the A-listed area by constructing contemporary homes alongside the original buildings.
Wilson’s Dundee client in 1851 was George Armitstead, later to become First Baron Armitstead.
He had been born into a wealthy jute-making family in Riga, now the capital of Latvia but which was then part of the Russian Empire. They moved to Dundee to capitalise on the Scottish city’s burgeoning reputation for producing and shipping vast quantities of the vegetable fibre.
Having made his fortune in jute, the baron went on to become Dundee’s Liberal MP , from 1863 to 1873 and again from 1880 to 1885.
Armitstead was close to the great 19th Century Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, possibly because he happily funded the great man’s holidays in Biarritz.
But it was to be Armitstead’s love life, not his political shenanigans, which threatened to ruin his reputation.
In 1848, Armitstead had married Jane Elizabeth Baxter, who belonged to another eminent Dundee family. Their firm, Baxter Brothers, had woven the topsail for HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.
But Armitstead scandalised douce Dundee society by developing a relationship with the daughter of Cluny MacPherson, 15th chief of the clan.
Things came to a head in the autumn of 1872 when the chief became aware of his daughter’s philanderings and turned her out of his house.
When she turned to her lover for help, he welcomed her to his house at Castle Huntly, just as Mrs Armitstead arrived on the scene.
The ultimatum was stark. Mrs Armitstead said: ‘Either that woman leaves this house… or I do.’
Holding the fainting Miss MacPherson, Armitstead replied: ‘You do.’
Society was horrified by the bounder’s actions. They learned that Mrs Armitstead was forced to walk in a thin nightdress and slippers, in a snowstorm, to beg for shelter for the night from the head gardener and his wife.
The family servants, too, were outraged. To a man, they all gave notice but were persuaded to stay on when Armitstead doubled their wages.
He somehow managed to recover from the scandal – both personally and politically – and helped carry Gladstone’s coffin at his funeral in May 1898.
His nephew, Henry Alfred Armitstead, served as a diplomat in Russia and was said to been involved in an attempt to liberate Tsar Nicholas II following that country’s revolution.
But that’s enough drama for one domain…
Offers over £525,000 to Irene Gourlay of Blackadders, Dundee. Tel 01382 342222 or email irene. gourlay@blackadders.co.uk