Cragside: What makes it Britain’s ‘original smart home’?

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

NORTHUMBERLAND, England (AA) – On a hill in England’s northeastern Northumberland County, lies the small town of Rothbury, right along the River Coquet.

A town with breathtaking scenery and rich cultural heritage, it is also home to Cragside, a country house and architectural marvel with a special place in history.

Designed by 19th century Victorian architect Richard Norman Shaw, Cragside is a landmark combining the splendor of Victorian architecture with pioneering technology that drives its claim as the world’s first smart home.

The mansion is not just believed to be the first home ever powered with hydroelectricity, but also has several other features that were well ahead of its time.

A modest house when originally built in 1863, Cragside was transformed by Shaw and its owners – inventor, engineer and industrialist Lord William Armstrong and his wife Lady Margaret.

Over a period of 25 years, it grew into a luxurious mansion that hosted dignitaries like King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, the Shah of Persia in 1889, and the crown prince of Afghanistan in 1895.

Its gardens still rank as among the most beautiful in the UK, and together with its five artificial lakes, create a stunning image of nature.

- The ‘original smart home’

Cragside is now in the hands of the National Trust, which describes it as Britain’s “original smart home.”

It welcomed some 240,000 visitors last year, who came from far and wide to marvel at its architectural and technological brilliance.

Its most groundbreaking element was the use of hydroelectricity, which was generated through a system designed by Armstrong using its artificial lakes.

In 1886, when Cragside was expanded, Armstrong found a way to increase the capacity of the hydroelectric system, reshaping the landscape and adding two new lakes to create a large source of energy.

Cragside was a home where all standards of modern living could be found in one place; hot and cold running water, electric light, central heating, and mechanical domestic appliances.

“What made Cragside the ultimate home of ‘a modern magician’ was its domestic technology,” Clara Woolford, a National Trust property curator at Cragside, told Anadolu.

“The house had several bathrooms with warm water provided by a hot-air system that also fed underfloor heating on the ground floor and hot pipes in the upstairs rooms.”

Armstrong also installed a hydraulic mechanism that powered a roasting spit in the kitchen, along with an early version of a dishwasher.

A hydraulic lift, driven by an engine in the basement below the kitchen, allowed warming pans, coal scuttles, guest luggage and other heavy items to be easily transported between the various floors of the house, she explained.

Armstrong was also a very early user of the telephone and “had the largest number of private lines in Newcastle,” she said.

“Telephone wire ran across the estate at Cragside, cracking with visible electric sparks,” she added.

Armstrong’s fascination with the potential of water as a power source drove him to build hydraulic cranes and lifts that were used at docks across the world, including Liverpool, Venice and Hobart in Australia.

He also designed the hydraulic engines for the Swing Bridge over the River Tyne in Newcastle, which was completed in 1876.

The engines use pressurized water to swing the 3,000-ton central span open to allow boats to pass through.

The same type of technology was later used by Armstrong’s company for the lower section of Tower Bridge in London, Woolford added.