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roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 16.28hrs on Fri 2 Jan 09
I was fortuitously given a copy of Richard Brown's "Struan" book for Xmas this year, by coincidence I was in Austria at the time which was nice.

Whilst being a fascinating book in all sorts of respects, from much detail about the history of skiing to the development of mechanised uplift in Scotland, it also reminded me of how important historically such places were, particularly Struan given it's being the site of the first organised Ski School in Scotland.

I was last at Struan in May/June 2006, after a trip in remembrance of my father to the nearby bucket bridge as mentioned in the book itself, and have not passed through Carrbridge since. As a result I was quite shocked to be told by my brother yesterday that the hotel is shut and boarded up and on doing a bit of research on the net finding it is due to be redeveloped as residential units.

I believe planning permission for the change of use was given quite recently in August 2008 and I hope that work has not commenced yet, hopefully that's correct?

Leaving aside the sad loss that the hotel's change of use will represent I am also concerned that parts of the fabric of the building, like the ski murals inside, will be utterly destroyed without being photographed properly and documented.

I also wonder if any of the items that used to hang on the walls of the hotel, such as early skis (presumably some of the ones that Karl Fuchs took over with him at the start in the 50s), piste maps of Cairngorm and other items of memorabilia might still be left in the hotel

Can I ask if anyone knows, or is in a position to make enquiries locally (which sadly I am not) about the situation with regards these.

And if anyone is able, before it is too late, to document whatever is left inside the hotel and perhaps help me investigate how we might save any removable items that would be otherwise be destroyed so it is not all lost forever once redevelopment commences.

Any advice, comments, thoughts etc. welcome.

Thanks



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 11.45hrs Mon 5 Jan 09 by roga.
roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Re: Struan House closed and redevoloped
Date Posted: 09.20hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
Lots of views but no response sad smiley

Do I take it that nobody has even a comment to make?

How well know is the fate of Stuan in the Strath generally, has there been any comment in the local press?
alan


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27th Mar 2024
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Re: Struan House closed and redevoloped
Date Posted: 09.40hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
Doubt there is anything to salvage, to be polite the Struan House was nothing but a festering hole for a long time, sad smiley

TBH it was so bad inside that it's demise was a good thing, least it saves anyone from reading about it's history and having the misfortune to subsequently stay there!




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 09.42hrs Mon 5 Jan 09 by alan.
roga


Posts: 1123
Joined: Feb 2006
Re: Struan House closed and redevoloped
Date Posted: 11.18hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
alan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doubt there is anything to salvage, to be polite
> the Struan House was nothing but a festering hole
> for a long time,

LOL, well that'll be why the place closed down - presumably the last/final management were clueless and drove the place into the ground.

> TBH it was so bad inside that it's demise was a
> good thing, least it saves anyone from reading
> about it's history and having the misfortune to
> subsequently stay there!

Fair point about saving people a bad experience but the thing is at the very least there are ski murals on some of the interior walls that date back to the 50s, they were there in the 90s and will still be visible unless the last owners obliterated them?

There were also things like old piste maps fixed to the wall in the bar and last time I was in, which would be May/June 2006, there were still old skis on the walls.

I can't envisage the last owners taking all that with them as the business folded so they've either been removed by a subsequent owner, unlikely I'd suggest as the intention as I understand it, until the property firm stepped in, was to sell it as a hotel with fixtures and fittings, nicked by someone entering the property with out permission or the stuff is still in there.

The property development firm who now have it are Aberdeen-based (Scoin Investment Partners Ltd.) but they only bought it in January 2008 so from mid 2006 to December 2007 it was in the hands of someone else, perhaps the last landlord's bank if they went bust?

So, although hopefully most of the memorabilia from the Fuchs era will hopefully be in the hands of surviving family members I'd say at the very least it'd be worth taking photos of the murals to document them. Other stuff I dunno but I think it's likely there may well be bits and bobs in the building and it seems a shame to imagine it being chucked in a skip or something like that... just seems like another piece of history going down the drain...
BarryFolan


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4th Jan 2012
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Re: Struan House closed and redevoloped
Date Posted: 15.08hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09

it's been closed / boarded up for quite a while (probably a couple of years even), seem to remember the for sale sign being on there for ages. Aint heard of any clearence or what the plans are.

Barry
WebCT_Guru


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21st Jan 2019
Re: Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 20.29hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
Roga

Came across this website for a restaurant in Boat of Garten

[www.lisis.co.uk]

it states that one of the Fuchs' children owns and runs the place. Maybe worth dropping them an email or having a meal there when you are next up in the area?

Actually, the menu looks quite good so may visit there myself when I'm up there myself on an extended stay. Hopefully the website is current - maybe a "local" can confirm? European "ski food" at OK prices - you can keep your burger and chips for 18 Euros smiling smiley



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.40hrs Mon 5 Jan 09 by WebCT_Guru.
sch


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10th Dec 2014
Re: Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 23.02hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
Lisis' is a really nice place and the food is excellent - as is the website (well I would say that since it's my work winking smiley )

The menu is a couple of years out of date, but the food is a similar type and the last time I was there (about 6 months or so ago) the prices were still good value.

As WebCT says, if you're thinking of visiting, it's probably worth giving them a ring first because I know that Davey & Lisi tend to take an extended break just after Christmas.


Simon
BarryFolan


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4th Jan 2012
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Re: Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 23.59hrs on Mon 5 Jan 09
we've gone to Lisi's for sunday lunch a few times, very good. Plaque outside to the local olympians including Peter who was killed in a road accident years ago. There's some memoribilia on the walls but not all that much.

I think one of the family also works for ski-scotland (Lisa i think?)

Barry



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 00.01hrs Tue 6 Jan 09 by BarryFolan.
don rumbold


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Re: Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 21.51hrs on Fri 27 Feb 09

Hi worked at Struan in the days when it was really good 1969/77 has a ski instructor in fact I was taught to ski there, it was not a festering then like it became just before its demise. I live in Nz now and used to look at the web site for Struan House and it did seem fom what I saw that it was being let go to the dogs
I went on a visit to Carrbridge in the winter of 2007/8 for old times sake and was really sad to see it boarded up and looking in a run run down state. So i moved on.
While there I also wondered what happened to the murels from in side.
I might suggest that the best place to find our would be Mrs Fuchs Karls wife who lives at kinvechy in the boat next door to Lisi,s Restaurant, I am sure she would be able to help you with regards the items from Struan House. She still as Karls shed in the garden of her house so it may contain a few things.
Sad it is not a hotel anymore it was an important part ofskiing in scotland and brought a lot of good times to a lot of people. Cheers don
PeterS


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13th Mar 2021
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Re: Struan House closed and redeveloped
Date Posted: 12.36hrs on Thu 5 Nov 20
[www.google.com]

Hope a fitting new life for this part of Scottish ski history. Can highly recommend the book by Richard Brown to anyone interested in Scotland’s skiing history.
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