Cumberland House

This image was digitised from Artistic Aberdeen: A Sketch Book (1932) by W. S. Percy.

The book describes the scene as follows:

"Cumberland House which, before the demolition of the condemned houses in the Guestrow - of which it formed No. 45 - was surrounded and hidden by unsightly and insanitary slums, now stands unobstructed. It is not only one of Aberdeen's best pieces of work - without and within - but it has at least one interesting piece of history attached to it. The older portion was built around 1580 and the newer in 1676. It is finely panelled and one room has painted decorations ascribed to an Italian artist. It was the lodgings of the Duke of Cumberland during his Culloden campaign in 1746. The "Bloody" Duke was a very bad tenant, although history also ascribed much of the wanton and malicious damage, surprisingly, to Wolfe, afterwards the hero of Quebec. For some years the building has been used as a lodging house."