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Born in Scotland, William Douglas arrived in London in 1837 and established himself as an upholsterer in Lowndes Street by 1841. A decade later, his business acumen led him to provide services for the Great Exhibition of 1851, a monumental international event held in Hyde Park that showcased global industry and culture. This "Crystal Palace Exhibition," organized by Prince Albert and Henry Cole, drew luminaries like Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, marking a significant moment in Victorian society.
By the late 1850s, Douglas's ambition expanded beyond upholstery. He began to describe himself as an auctioneer and estate agent, and by 1859, the London Post Office Directory listed him as a builder with a "Hans Town works" in addition to his Lowndes Street office. He nearly secured a lucrative deal with Prince Albert to build a hall for agricultural shows in South Kensington, a venture that unfortunately fell through. However, Prince Albert did approve Douglas's plans for a terrace-house layout at Queensberry Place in 1860, on the condition that he widen the proposed road.
Douglas's involvement in the building trade was initially intermittent. In 1861, he still identified as an upholsterer with 40 employees. Yet, by 1862, he re-engaged with construction, building a road connecting Queensberry Place to Queen's Gate. Despite being deemed "troublesome" by the Commissioner's surveyor, Douglas persevered, constructing houses in Queensberry Place, which he named after a Scottish mountain. He continued building in the Queen's Gate and Queensberry Place areas until 1888, using bricks from his own brickworks.
Among his buildings is the Bulgarian Embassy.
The three houses inhabited today by the Bulgarian embassy were called Albert Gotha Mansions. The land on which they were built was also owned by the Royal Exhibition Commission.
The architect RA Lukok, hired by William Douglas, designed the buildings according to the already established model in the area - four floors above the basement plus attic rooms, classic style and plastered white facade. However, Albert Gotha Mansions appear to be on the market too late, just as the popularity of this type of building is beginning to wane.
The uniform white classic facades were no longer in vogue.
His eldest son, William Jr., joined the business, but his untimely death around 1876 forced the elder Douglas to continue working. Despite his efforts, he struggled to adapt to evolving building requirements and, in 1888, was declared bankrupt. Douglas attributed his financial downfall to the depreciation of his property values and the burden of mortgage payments, with liabilities
totalling over £650,000.
A younger son,
John, father of
Quentin, was also a
builder.
His grandson, Professor Alexander "Sandy" Shafto Douglas CBE (born 21 May 1921, died 29 April 2010) was a British professor of computer science, credited with creating the first graphical Computer game OXO (also known as Noughts and Crosses) a tic-tac-toe computer game in 1952 on the EDSAC computer at University of Cambridge.
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