The Retreat, 190 High Street, Montrose

The Retreat is an early 18th century house, remodelled in the early 19th century, consisting of two connecting buildings forming an L-shaped plan, two and three storeys in height. The front of the building is sandstone ashlar, while the west side features bull-faced stone and rendered surfaces, and the rear is of rubble stone construction. A band course runs along the eaves and a cornice sits above the first floor of the west wing. Quoins are present, and the windows have plain margins.

The south elevation comprises a two-storey wing set close to the street. This wing has four bays, with two windows on the right-hand side at ground level and two doorways on the left. The doorway in the penultimate bay has a four-pane rectangular fanlight, and the doorway on the extreme left is larger, featuring splayed reveals and a wrought-iron lantern above. The first-floor windows are taller than those on the ground floor. To the left is the gable end of a three-storey west wing, constructed with stugged render over rubble stone. A single bay faces east, and there is a timber pilastered doorpiece at ground level, with a blinded window above it on the first floor. A single-storey outbuilding adjoins the gable end and extends southward.

The west elevation, facing the garden, shows a re-faced four-bay facade using bull-faced sandstone and render. There are five bays at ground level, larger windows on the first floor, and smaller windows on the second floor. A single-storey outbuilding is situated to the right.

The north elevation presents a blank rubble wall abutting 182 High Street, with a single-storey lean-to extension to the left. A building at number 182 abuts the Retreat on the right.

The windows are timber sash and case, with twelve panes on the south elevation. Plate glass is used at ground and first floor levels on the west elevation, again with twelve panes on the second floor. The roofs are grey slate, with coped skews. Brick gablehead stacks are located on the north, south, and east sides, and a brick ridge stack and a gablehead stack are present on the outbuilding.

The interior features fine plasterwork in the principal rooms. The dining room on the first floor of the east wing has a modillion cornice, an engaged Corinthian columned chimney piece, low-relief rococo decoration above the mantle, a lugged marble insert to the fireplace, and rococo plasterwork above the doorways. The sitting room on the first floor of the west wing has a guttae and fleuron cornice, and low-relief rococo plasterwork on the chimney piece, with a lugged marble insert. The ground floor kitchen contains a cast-iron range and has a stone flag floor. A basement cellar also has a stone flag floor. A half-turn staircase features a wrought-iron balustrade and a domed ceiling with two lights in an oculus. Shutters are fitted to the windows of the principal rooms.

Rubble stone boundary walls enclose the two gardens to the north, south, east, and a central section extending west. Stone flags pave the courtyard/close.