Qualla: Cargill's Castle https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:26 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Cargill's Castle https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle Cargill's Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle/ Photo credit Grutness at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The architect fell in love while drawing the floor plans. Francis Petre, barely into his career, had been hired by Edward Cargill to design a grand home on the cliffs south of Dunedin, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Petre delivered an Italianate mansion built almost entirely of concrete -- an audacious choice in 1877, when the technology was still experimental anywhere in the world. But the building was not the only audacious thing about the commission. Somewhere between the loggia and the tower, Petre fell for Margaret Cargill, and the real drama of this clifftop house began.

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Image: Grutness at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/pzc4-cargills-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Cargill's Castle: A Dynasty on the Cliffs https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle/ Photo credit Seanb, CC BY-SA 3.0. Edward Cargill was the eighth child of William Cargill, the Scottish soldier and politician who had founded Dunedin as a Free Church of Scotland settlement in 1848. By the 1870s, the Cargill name carried weight throughout Otago. Edward chose a promontory along the southern coast ...

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Image: Seanb | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/pzc4-cargills-castle-a-dynasty-on-the-cliffs.mp3 0:06 2 full Cargill's Castle: Concrete Before Its Time https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle/ Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. The most remarkable thing about Cargill's Castle is what it was made of. In 1877, reinforced concrete construction was still in its infancy worldwide. Petre and Lyders used several different types of reinforcement throughout the structure -- concrete roofs on the loggia and tower...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/pzc4-cargills-castle-concrete-before-its-time.mp3 0:06 3 full Cargill's Castle: The Catholic and the Presbyterian https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle/ Photo credit Grutness at English Wikipedia, Public domain. While sketching rooms and supervising construction, Petre fell in love with Edward's daughter Margaret. The courtship was anything but smooth. Petre was a staunch Catholic; the Cargills were equally staunch Presbyterians, descendants of a family that had helped establish Dunedin ...

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Image: Grutness at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/pzc4-cargills-castle-the-catholic-and-the-presbyterian.mp3 0:06 4 full Cargill's Castle: Fire and Slow Decline https://qualla.com/cargill-s-castle/ Photo credit Schwede66, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1892, fire gutted the interior of the castle. Edward Cargill rebuilt what he could but lacked the resources to replace all the wooden furnishings destroyed in the blaze. He did manage to add a ballroom during the restoration -- a gesture of defiance, perhaps, against the damag...

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Image: Schwede66 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/z/c/4/cargill-s-castle-wp/pzc4-cargills-castle-fire-and-slow-decline.mp3 0:06 5 full