Caledonian Hotel, George Street, Oban, Oban, Argyll and Bute

Description

Mid 19th century with later additions of circa 1885 and 1900.

Asymmetrical substantial hotel building, of irregular plan, mostly

3 storeys with double attic and 9 bay frontages to Station Road and George Street. Jacobean style with French chateau influence to roofs, and Dutch gables. Sandstone ashlar walls and dressings, painted at early building.

W (QUEEN'S PARK PLACE) ELEVATION: 2 building periods (divided 4-5), bays 1-4, 4-storey and attic, string courses at cills. Bays 5-9, 3 storey and double attic, string course at 1st floor level.

Bay 1, semi-octagonal tower with Dutch gable at head of each face, bipartite windows to W face with tripartite at ground floor, pyramidal roof with gabled dormer to W face. Bay 2, circular tower with architraved, round-arched, columned doorway at ground floor, bipartite windows to each floor above, cornice at eaves, ogee roof with 2 round-headed dormers and weathervane. Bay 3, 4-storey canted window with crenellated parapet centred beneath Dutch gable, round-arched window in gablehead and 3-flue stack at apex.

Bay 5, 3-storey, 4-light canted window with crenellated parapet,

centred below Dutch gable. Window in gablehead, corbelled turret with cornice, conical roof and finial, at corner to left. Bay 6 and 7, bipartite windows including stone Dutch-gabled dormers at eaves, hoodmoulds at 1st and 2nd floors, decorative cast-iron glazed canopy over bracketted columns at ground floor, with mosaic floor surrounded by balustrade. Bay 8, 6-storey square tower with Dutch gables at each face. Bay 9, canted 4-light window at 1st floor, corbelled out to rectangular bay with Dutch gable above, breaking eaves. Bipartite window at 1st floor, and window in gablehead.

4-bay single storey addition with balustraded parapet fronting bays

8 and 9. Main entrance porch in bay 1 (N end), Corinthian columns, entablature above with dentilled cornice, pilasters flanking doorway behind. Bays 2-3, base course with string courses at cill and lintel levels. Bipartite windows in bays 2 and 4 flanking tripartite window. Tightly curved corner at S end with window facing S.

E (GEORGE STREET) ELEVATION: 2 building periods, Bays 1-7 circa 1900, 3-storeys with double attic and part mezzanine, base course, cornice at 1st floor level and eaves. Blocking course above in bays 1-4. Ground floor, irregular arrangement of bipartite (in mezzanine to left above ground) and arched windows. 1st and 2nd floors, architraved and corniced windows, panelled aprons at 1st floor. Bipartite windows in

bays 1, 4 and 7. Narrow windows in bays 2, 3, 5 and 6; 2 closely spaced in bay 2. Bays 8-10 mid 19th century, 3-storey with double attic, lower attic breaking eaves in gabled dormers with skews. Base course, string course at 1st floor level, cornice at eaves. Modern

openings at ground floor, central doorway with pair of arched windows to left, windows and doorway to right. Raised window margins with projecting cills.

S ELEVATION: centre portion flanked by gable ends of George Street and Queen's Park Place frontages, single and bipartite windows with margins, apex stacks to gables, additional 3-flue stack to E gable. Single storey frontage continued around from Queen's Park Place across S elevation, balustraded parapet with narrow single and bipartite windows.

N ELEVATION: gable end to George street elevation with semi-octagonal tower to right. Ground floor obscured by single storey shops (listed separately) 7-flue, corniced apex stack to gable, windows to 2nd and 3rd floors, in bays to centre and left. W corner of gable chamfered, with windows. Tower with Dutch gable to each face, 5-flue wallhead stack over centre face, windows at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of flanking faces. Plate glass timber sash and case windows to all openings.

Grey slate roof, gabled timber dormers to W front. E elevation,

bays 1-4 stone box dormers, breaking blocking course, timber box dormers at 4th floor. Bays 5 and 6, gabled timber slate-hung dormer, bay 7, bipartite slate hung piend-roofed dormers at 3rd and 4th floors. Bays 8-10 piend-roofed, slate-hung dormers at 4th floor, canted at outer bays. Brattishing removed from towers at N and S ends of building. Profiled, cast-iron guttering to W and E fronts. Glazed cast-iron canopy to left of main entrance door with decorative brackets, eaves and ridge castings.

Statement of Interest

The principal front of the building to Queen's Park Place is probably by Alexander Shairp. The Dean of Guild Court records a Hotel at Queen's Park Place for Duncan MacGregor 1885, alterations of 1895, 1899 and 1900 by Alexander Shairp, including a verandah by P & H Fleming & Co. Dining room extension, porch, vestibule and other alterations by

W L Menzies 1907.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.