Cameron House, located on

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Ce ...

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. The House is a

Category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. For three centuries, the land was part of the Smollett estate, now reduced to 44 hectares of wooded land that juts into the loch. Over the centuries the Smollets hosted

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

and

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, the Empress Eugenie of France, Princess Margaret and Lord Louis Mountbatten, and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. In 1985 Laird Patrick Telfer Smollett sold the House and land to De Vere Hotels. 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. 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.

2017 hotel fire

A fire at the hotel on 18 December 2017 killed two people and injured three. 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 Sherrif 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. 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. 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." 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 The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974c 37 (abbreviated to "HSWA 1974", "HASWA" or "HASAWA") is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that defines the fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement, regulation and enfor ...

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. On 3 June 2021

STV News ''STV News'' is a Scottish news service produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. STV's news programmes are produced from studios in Glasgow ...

reported that the hotel had begun accepting new bookings; the owners stated that the hotel would reopen on 1 August 2021.

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.cameronhouse.co.uk/ Loch Lomond Listed hotels in Scotland Category B listed buildings in West Dunbartonshire Houses in West Dunbartonshire Buildings and structures completed in 1830 Hotels in West Dunbartonshire 18th-century establishments in Scotland Hotels established in 1985 1985 establishments in Scotland