Description

Late 19th century (circa 1870?). Symmetrical 2-storey with attic, 5-bay hotel grouped 1-3-1; recessed at centre; full-height 5-light bowed towers centred in advanced gabled bays to outer left and right. Coursed stugged yellow sandstone; polished sandstone dressings. Raised base course; corniced bays at ground; timber bracketed eaves; decorative cast-iron brattishing surmounting corniced bows to outer left and right. Stugged yellow sandstone quoins; stugged long and short surrounds to openings; chamfered cills. Shouldered windows at ground; round-arched windows at 1st floor; cast-iron fluted Corinthian columned mullions. Later 20th century harled single storey lean-to porch spanning central bay at ground. Random rubble sandstone at rear and sides.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: lean-to porch comprising glazed 2-leaf timber door centred at ground; flanking bipartite windows; tripartite windows in bays to outer left and right. Quadripartite round-arched glazing row centred at 1st floor; quadripartite window above set in stylised round-arched Venetian attic window; brattished French-pavilion-roof behind. Single windows at 1st floor off-set to left and right of centre; oeil-de-beouf attic windows above. Advanced gabled bays to outer left and right comprising 5-light bowed windows at ground and 1st floors; bowed brattishing; tripartite shouldered attic windows centred in apex above.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows; modern glazing to porch. Graded grey slate roof; fish-scale detailing to central French pavilion roof. Coped sandstone apex stacks; various circular cans.

INTERIOR: adapted for use as hotel; various fire doors, false ceilings, internal divisions. Porch encloses cast-iron columnar-mullioned quadripartite glazing row; bracketed stair comprising timber uprights, timber handrail; some cornice work; ceiling rose in dining room.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped squared and snecked sandstone wall to Crichton Road.

Statement of Interest

Despite substantial internal alterations and a porch which hides the original glazing row behind, Craigmore Hotel has retained some interesting features. Originally built as 2 houses, it is thought that the building became a single hotel soon after (it is now the oldest private hotel in Rothesay). With its cast-iron columnar mullions, bowed windows, decorative brattishing and prominent hillside position, this is seaside architecture at its most flamboyant. Note the similarity with No 20 Battery Place and Nos 9, 10 and 10a Mount Stuart Road (see separate list entries).

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and incorporates an earlier medieval settlement. The town retains a wide range of buildings characteristic of its development as a high status 19th century holiday resort, including a range of fine villas, a Victorian pier and promenade.

The history and development of Rothesay is defined by two major phases. The development of the medieval town, centred on Rothesay Castle, and the later 19th and early 20th century development of the town as a seaside resort. Buildings from this later development, reflect the wealth of the town during its heyday as a tourist destination, and include a range of domestic and commercial architecture of a scale sometimes found in larger burghs. Both the 19th and early 20th century growth of the town, with a particular flourish during the inter-war period, included areas of reclaimed foreshore, particularly along the coast to the east of the town and around the pier and pleasure gardens.

(List description revised as part of Rothesay listing review 2010-11).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17775359

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)