56°00′48″N 4°36′26″W / 56.013212°N 4.607348°W
Cameron House, located on Loch Lomond near Balloch, Scotland, was first built in the mid-1700s, and later purchased by Sir James Smollett. The modern Baronial stone castle was built by William Spence in 1830 (rebuilt after a fire in 1865), with peaked gables and decorative turrets.[1]
The House is a Category B listed building.[2]
For three centuries, the land was part of the Smollett estate, now reduced to 44 hectares of wooded land that juts into the loch.[3] Over the centuries the Smollets hosted James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, the Empress Eugenie of France, Princess Margaret and Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Winston Churchill.[1]
In 1985 Laird Patrick Telfer Smollett sold the House and land to Kildonnan Investments who had already developed Craigendarroch in Ballater. Subsequently acquired by Canon Street Investments, which may have sold it to De Vere.
De Vere sold the hotel in November 2014 to Sankaty Advisors and Canyon Capital Advisors, the owners of QHotels. Shortly afterwards in 2015 Cameron House was sold again, this time to KSL Capital Partners, an American firm.[4]
Today it operates within the Cameron House resort, which comprises 44 hectares of land around the hotel and The Cameron Club (formerly the Carrick Estate), situated 2 miles north of the hotel, and has two golf courses and an award-winning spa. The resort also has 115 self-catering properties operating under the Cameron Lodges brand.[5]
2017 hotel fire
editA fire at the hotel on 18 December 2017 killed two people[6] and injured three.[4][7][8]
The hotel caught fire at around 06:41. The fire burned for over 24 hours with over 14 fire engines being dispatched to help extinguish the fire. Locally, rumours began the Christmas tree in the foyer caught fire, however a court investigation at Dumbarton Sheriff Court in January 2021 found that a hotel porter had put a bag of hot ash and embers into a cupboard containing kindling and newspaper.[9]
Over 200 people were evacuated from the hotel. Two people died in the fire, later named as couple Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson from London.[10] Three other people had injuries from the fire. The hotel embarked on a "Careful and sensitive restoration project which will see Cameron House Hotel, The Leisure Club, The Great Scots Bar and Cameron Grill remain closed until autumn 2019."[11] Subsequently, their website announced that restoration were works intended to have the hotel reopen in early 2020.
The company which owns the hotel admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £500,000; the fine was reduced from £750,000 due to the guilty plea. The hotel was found to not have proper procedures in place for the disposal of ash, or for staff training.[12][13]
On 3 June 2021 STV News reported that the hotel had begun accepting new bookings; the owners stated that the hotel would reopen on 1 August 2021.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b Loverseed, Helga (19 September 1998). "On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond: At the Scottish loch the scenery is glorious no matter what the weather. And with a stately hotel, who could ask for more". Vancouver Sun. ProQuest 242834836.
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Cameron House with terrace walls (Category B Listed Building) (LB1121)". Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ "A history of Cameron House hotel". The Scotsman. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Two guests die in Loch Lomond hotel fire". BBC News. 18 December 2017.
- ^ "Cameron House Lodges in Loch Lomond, Scotland - Luxury Holidays & Self Catering Accommodation - Cottages". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ Horne, Marc (20 December 2017). "Journalist Simon Midgley and TV producer Richard Dyson killed in Cameron House fire". The Times. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
- ^ Rawlinson, Kevin (18 December 2017). "Two people die and three in hospital after Loch Lomond hotel fire" – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Two dead in luxury hotel fire on banks of Loch Lomond".
- ^ "Cameron House: Fire caused by Ash left in cupboard". BBC News. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ "Couple killed in hotel fire named". BBC News. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ "Main Page of Cameron House Website, detailing the restoration project". Cameron House Website.
- ^ "Cameron House fined £500,000 over fatal hotel fire". BBC News. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ a b Scott, Kevin (3 June 2021). "Cameron House hotel to reopen in August following fatal fire". STV News. Retrieved 4 June 2021.