BILL McALLISTER: Handsome buildings in Queensgate in Inverness have fascinating tale to tell
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This year marks the 120th anniversary of the completion of Queensgate, one of Inverness’s most handsome streets – and the 460th anniversary of the Royal visit, and grisly hanging, from which its name derives.
It was in 1884 that Sir Alexander Ross, our city’s master architect, drew up plans for a much-needed new city centre thoroughfare, running parallel to Union Street.
He named it Queen’s Gate, in memory of Mary Queen of Scots’ visit in 1562. She was refused admission to Inverness Castle by its constable, Alexander Gordon, on orders from the Earl of Huntly, his clan chief and opponent of the Queen.
Local clansmen, mainly Munros and Frasers, viewed this as an outrage and began a three-day siege of the castle, which they finally stormed. Gordon was arrested, accused of treason, and duly hanged.
Queen’s Gate, over time, became a single word and it was a much less well-known architect, Inverness-born William Laidlaw Carruthers, who added significantly to Ross’s initial works.
Educated at Fettes College, Carruthers was articled as an apprentice to Ross in 1876, later working for London architect Ernest George before starting his own business at 39 Union Street in 1883.
Carruthers built flats in Eastgate and Church Street plus Island Bank Road landmarks Carrol and Rossal, later care homes.
Achieving a reputation for building large arts and crafts and neo-Tudor houses, he was made a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects 130 years ago.
In 1893 he built the presbytery for St Mary’s Catholic Church on Huntly Street and two years later he created St Stephens Church.
Carruthers would go on to build homes in Crown Drive, Fairfield Road, Dores Road, Culduthel Road and Annfield Road.
It was in January 1901 that he picked up the chalice of completing Ross’s Queensgate dream. Carruthers began work on a frontage of a massive 231 feet, with 15 bays, reaching 50 feet back to Church Street. The ground floor consisted of 11 shops, a major enhancement of the burgh’s retail offering, while the first and second floors contained offices, above which were apartments.
Anchoring Carruthers’ design was a large, modern hotel, equipped throughout with electricity and with hydraulic lifts. The Queensgate Hotel was regarded as ‘state-of-the-art’ of its time when it was completed in spring 1902. Carruthers’ transformation of the street, with shops, offices, homes and hotel cost £25,000!
Sadly, this is the 30th anniversary of this hotel being burned down in a town centre blaze.
Alexander Ross had been influenced by Italian style when he built the Royal Insurance building in 1884, at Queensgate’s corner with Academy Street. French Renaissance architecture was then used by Ross to build 1 to 13 Queensgate.
His Post Office building, completed in 1888, also had Italian echoes but this impressive design was to crumble in the face of the desire for modern concrete when it was demolished in 1967 – to be replaced by the current drab PO, the street’s least attractive building.
This year is the centenary of the first telephone exchange in Inverness, located in Union Street, moving to Queensgate to be included in the Post Office building. The town at that point boasted 500 phone numbers! The addition of Carruthers’ later confection to Ross’ initial invention completed a much-admired street of grace and style – two architects combining to leave a legacy.
It is ironic that it was proposed, and initially agreed, to be called Raigmore Street before wiser counsel prevailed and the more stately name, Queen’s Gate, was decided upon. That saved our posties modern day confusion…
Duncan Fraser’s butcher shop moved from Eastgate to larger premises in the 1920s. Later, Provost Bill Fraser ran the business, being succeeded by his son Duncan who maintained the reputation for quality. Last year, however, it was sold to Highland firm John M Munro.
Queensgate, the Post Office apart, retains its Victorian ambience and would surely have gained Royal approval from that earlier female monarch from whose visit it takes its name.
*Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.
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