Listed Building
The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.
Address/Name of Site
2 ARGYLL SQUARE AND AIRDS PLACE, ROYAL HOTELLB38808
Status: Designated
Documents
There are no additional online documents for this record.
Summary
- Category
- B
- Date Added
- 16/05/1995
- Local Authority
- Argyll And Bute
- Planning Authority
- Argyll And Bute
- Burgh
- Oban
- NGR
- NM 85927 29856
- Coordinates
- 185927, 729856
Description
Later 19th century. Classical with Italianate detailing hotel composed of 4-storey and double height attic L-plan main block with 3-storey and attic wing of kinked plan to SE, giving U-plan with courtyard to rear. 6-bay elevation to George Street, 7-bay elevation to Argyll Square and additional curved bay at corner. Sandstone ashlar to principal elevations, stugged with horizontal channelling at ground and 1st floors of corner bay and flanking bays. Cornices at 1st floor and eaves levels, string courses at 1st and 2nd floor cill levels. String course at 1st floor lintel level tied in with pediments. Consoled eaves cornice, low corniced parapet above terminated with finials. Corner bays raised 1 storey, with double string course and cornice with blocking course at eaves, French domed pavilion roof. Pilasters dividing corner and flanking bays, channelled at ground and 1st floor,
superimposed segmental pediments at 1st floor cill level. Pilasters
extend to eaves of raised corner section, terminating as panelled dies and finished by caps with segmental faces. Windows at 1st 2nd and 3rd floors, and raised portion, all architraved. Bracketted, alternating segmental and triangular pediments to 1st floor windows, bracketted pediments to 1st floor. 2nd floor windows corniced with brackets. Corniced cills with small brackets to 3rd floor. 2-storey mansard roof to main block with single and bipartite dormer windows at both levels.
SW (ARGYLL SQUARE) ELEVATION: entrance doorway central to 6-bay section to right of bay 1. Round-arched, architraved with keystone and flanking Doric columns, capitals and entablature obscured by modern illuminated canopy. Large, closely spaced windows at ground floor, tripartite at outer left and right of 1st floor.
NW (AIRDS PLACE) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical with 2-bay section to outer left slightly advanced, corresponding with pilastered bay adjacent to curved corner bay at right. Doorway at centre, pilastered with decorative scrolled brackets, carved floral swag between; cornice, balustrade and small finials above. Large, closely spaced windows at ground floor, shallow segmental pediment over 3 central windows with tripartite windows to outer bays, at 1st floor level.
REAR ELEVATIONS: near-regular fenestration in granite rubble walls with sandstone dressings, mostly rendered over. Plate glass timber sash and case windows to principal elevations except for modern glazing at ground floor and 4-pane timber sash and case windows to mansard dormers. Larger windows and dormers to rear elevations, 4-pane timber sash and case, with some bipartites. 2-storey light grey-green slated mansard roof to main block, single storey mansard roof to wing with dormer to each bay.
Statement of Special Interest
A photograph of circa 1890 shows the hotel as originally built. Large window openings at ground floor appear to be original having been used as shopfronts. Gable and panelled wallhead stacks to principal elevations have been removed. The mansard roof is shown as single storey with round-headed dormers (behind parapet at the head of each bay) matching those still existing on dome. The dome was originally
surmounted by a square cupola with arched and balustraded sides and tall pyramidal roof. The similarity of the doorway to Airds Place to the Courthouse (1889) in Albany Street suggests that the architect may have been David Mackintosh, possibly when in partnership as Ross & Mackintosh.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Listed Buildings
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.
We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.
These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.
The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.
While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.
If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.
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Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.