At the end of Westfield Terrace is Rhufaada which was built around 1910 for Robert Chalmers, a mill manager in Dundee. The designer of Rhufaada was a London based architect who was heavily influenced by the American Arts and Crafts movement. This explains the house’s semi open-plan layout with its central hallway.
Rhufaada’s beautifully laid-out garden
From the 1920s until at least the 1990s Rhufaada was the home of the Lowson family who owned the large department store in Whitehall Crescent, Dundee.
Rhufaada’s central reception hallway in the 1990s
In the 1990s the house underwent a meticulous restoration by the owners at that time.
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Hi Mairi,
This was my grandfather’s house and he was the Managing Director of Lawsons Limited. It had drapery stories all over the UK.
There is an air raid shelter we used to play in. The gardens look much better than they did in the 1950s.
There used to be a train line which ran along the side of the garden. My grandmother used to hang bottles on a clothes line near where the trains used to stop at a signal.
Of course the driver and fireman could not resist trying to break them. That is how she got her coal during the war.
It is a beautiful house and has fabulous views of the rail bridge and Dundee, which we used to visit by ferry.
Thanks for commenting Scott. We’re always delighted to hear from anyone who knew or lived in the houses we have featured. I see your family was at Rhufaada from around 1928 until 1965 – a long time! Lovely to know you have such good memories of a very special house.
My name is Scott Lowson and I spent a lot of my wonderful childhood there. It looks fabulous. Thanks for your article
My great-grandfather was Robert Chalmers. His son William Chalmers, my grandfather continued to run the branch of the business in Calcutta after James his elder brother was killed in the Dardanelles. My father William Dieudonne Chalmers was born in Calcutta. We have family photos from the early 1900’s placed at Rhufaada.
I’ve only recently investigated where it is. Thanks for the photos.
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