Ulva House, Island Of Ulva

Ulva House, located on the Island of Ulva, is a neo-Georgian mansion built between 1955 and 1956 by Leslie Graham MacDougall (Thompson). This two-storey and attic building features a symmetrical T-plan and has nine bays. It is a fine post-war reconstruction of an early 19th-century house that occupied the same site and shared a similar profile and dimensions. The structure is built on a square and snecked rubble whinstone base course and has an eaves course and a piended roof.

The principal elevation faces northwest and showcases an advanced three-bay block with a piended roof at the centre, which is accessed by sweeping steps leading to a round-arched entrance. The entrance is adorned with a decorative sunburst fanlight, flanking margin lights, and a carved crest above. The central block is flanked by single-storey, flat-roofed wings that feature ashlar skews and urn-finials. The first-floor windows are positioned close to the eaves, and there are a pair of small attic dormers.

The rear elevation has a five-bay arrangement, with a shouldered wall-head gable at the centre that includes a wall sundial and three urn-finials. There is a bowed outshot with curved glazing on the southeast elevation, which is topped with a decorative cast-iron parapet. A turn-pike stair outshot rises to the attic level on the northwest elevation.

The windows are timber sash and case with multi-pane glazing and timber secondary glazing. The roof is covered with grey slate, and there are a pair of coped ridge stacks along with cast-iron rainwater goods.

The interior, observed in 2014, features a distinctive Regency/Adam influenced design, which is unusual for a building from the mid-20th century. The central hall includes a hardwood handrail leading to a sweeping open well stair. The ground floor contains a library, dining room, and sitting room, all featuring Adam-style fireplaces and timber panelling. The dining room has a bowed entrance wall and a bowed door, while the sitting room includes panelled niches flanking a bowed window on the east side. Round archways connect the halls on both the ground and first floors, and there is a round-arched door leading to the attic.

An outbuilding is located to the northwest of the house. It has a rectangular plan, a piended roof, and features a large double door at the ground level, with a lean-to section on the left. There is a stone fore-stair leading to the upper level within the re-entrant angle.