Description

'Armadale' was a large house in the James Bay district of Victoria, B.C. built in 1877 for Senator William John Macdonald (1832-1916) and his family. The estate encompassed four city blocks (28 acres) that are today bounded by Dallas Rd., Montreal St., Simcoe St. and Oswego St. The family sold Armadale in 1913 and it has since been demolished. Some of the land it occupied is now the City of Victoria's Macdonald Park. 

The name derived from Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye. The Senator was one of British Columbia's first after the province entered Confederation in 1871. Senator and Mrs. Macdonald's son, Alastair Douglas Macdonald, married Joan Olive Bryden, granddaughter of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir.