Cragside
The construction of Cragside was completed by 1869. Its grounds were landscaped and five artificial lakes were created at a height to provide water pressure for the house's water supply, generating electricity and powering the house's hydraulic appliances which included lifts and a roasting-spit in the kitchen.
Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power and the first to be lit by Joseph Swan's newly-invented incandescent light. It also played host to the Prince and Princess of Wales during their visit to the area in 1884, on which occasion Armstrong lit up the grounds with 10,000 small glass lights and a similar number of Chinese lanterns.
The mantelpiece above the huge fireplace in the dining room bore the motto “East or West, Hame's Best”, conveying, perhaps, the extent to which Armstrong saw Cragside as a place of comfort, contentment and retreat from the hectic life of running his business.
In this letter written by Joseph Swan, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, to the local photographer and friend of Armstrong, John Worsnop, Swan recalls the installation of electric lighting at Cragside:
Yes so far as I know his house at Cragside was the first house in England properly fitted with my electric lamps - I had greatly wished that it should be & when I told him so he readily assented. There had, previously to the introduction of the incandescent lamp into the house been an arc lamp in the picture gallery - that was taken down & my lamps were substituted, & it was a delightful experience for both of us when the gallery was first lit up. 16
