Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 9, 2018
Cragside is a Victorian country house near Rothbury in Northumberland, England. It was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm and inventor of the hydraulic crane and the Armstrong gun. Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power. The entire estate, designed by Richard Norman Shaw, was technologically advanced, with a hydraulic lift, a hydroelectric rotisserie, and early versions of a dishwasher and dumb waiter. Armstrong was raised to the peerage in 1887, taking the title Baron Armstrong of Cragside. He was the first engineer ever to join the House of Lords. He filled Cragside with a significant art collection, and it became an integral part of his commercial operations, entertaining guests including the Shah of Persia and the King of Siam. Following Armstrong's death in 1900, his heirs struggled to maintain the house and estate. The National Trust acquired the estate in 1977 and opened it to the public in 1979. (Full article...)