History of the Tontine Hotel

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC-BY)

The history of the Tontine Hotel goes back to the time when railways were beyond the dreams of imagination. and steam craft little more than thought of, for it was in the days of the stagecoach that the building that was later to become the Tontine Hotel came into existence.

It was built as a family residence by Mr George Robertson about the year 1805, the year of the Battle of Trafalgar, and is one of the oldest family mansions in Greenock.

The site was formerly occupied by a windmill for grinding corn – believed to be the first mill of the kind constructed in Greenock. The house stood within its own beautiful grounds, extending over a large area.

After the death of Mr. Robertson in 1828, the house was occupied by his son, and subsequently by other well-known Greenock gentlemen. In the year 1892 it was acquired by Mrs. Buchanan for the purpose of a hotel and proved exceedingly popular from its inauguration.

Further owners of the hotel include John and William Service, who acquired the hotel in April 1907. They were well known in the town for many years as high-class caterers.

In 1971, the famous Scott shipbuilding family took over. They added a new bedroom wing (the present day standard rooms).

Mrs. Joan Cuthbert ran the hotel from 1986 until 2002 and added a further two floors to the new wing.

Since this time, it has been owned by the Nelis family, and it remains a family run business to this day.

What is a 'Tontine'?

A tontine is an investment scheme for raising capital, devised in the 17th century and relatively widespread in the 18th and 19th. The basic concept is simple: each investor pays a sum into the tontine. The funds are invested, and each investor receives dividends. As each investor dies, his or her share is divided amongst the surviving investors. This process continues until only one investor survives.

Originally, the last surviving subscriber received only the dividends: the capital reverted to the state upon his or her death and was used to fund public works projects, which often contained the word “tontine” in their name. In a later variation, the capital would devolve upon the last survivor, effectively dissolving the trust, and it is this version that has often been the plot device for mysteries and detective stories.

The Architecture

The building has some resemblance to the Mansion House of Ardgowan. The architect who designed it is unknown, but the general design and interior plaster work of the hotel appears to form an interesting and valuable specimen of the style of the world-famous Adam brothers.

Owing to the deaths of the Adam brothers about 1790 to 1800 the work cannot be directly ascribed to them – but the details of the cornices and other interior decorations are so good and pure in the Adam style that there is a great probability of the ornaments being made out of moulds designed by them, and the work carried out by one of their pupils, probably George Richardson.