Gables, Shore Road, Shandon

This is a mid-19th century, two-storey villa located on rising ground at the east end of Shore Road, Shandon. The building is asymmetrical in design, with a rambling plan and incorporating Baronial detailing. It is constructed from sandstone and whinstone rubble, with sandstone dressings, droved sandstone margins, and chamfered arrises. Pinnings and quoin strips are also visible.

The south (entrance) elevation features a three-bay asymmetrical block with a recessed bay to the right. A prominent tower entrance bay sits off-centre to the left, featuring a bargeboarded porch with a Tudor-arch and stepped angle buttresses. Quatrefoils are pierced into the returns of the tower. A Tudor-arch doorway incorporates a modern glazed inner door, and above is a tripartite window with blind side lights. Crenellations top the parapet above the cornice. A gabled outer bay to the right has a window at the first floor, while a blind arrowslit is positioned at ground level. A recessed bay to the right includes modern French doors, an original relieving arch above and a stair window with etched and painted glass. A small, modern window is located in the gablehead to the outer right. A jerkin-headed bay to the outer left is situated over a raised basement and has a small, off-centre basement window. A corniced, canted window is present at the principal floor, with a blind arrowslit above.

The west elevation is two bays wide, with a full-height canted bay to the outer left, corbelled to a square at the gablehead. A lower, slightly advanced gabled bay is positioned to the outer right, and it contains a bipartite window at ground level and a single window at the first floor.

The north elevation has four bays over a raised basement. An advanced bay to the outer left incorporates a full-height round tower in the re-entrant angle. Three bays are positioned to the right, with the centre bay slightly recessed between two gables. Bipartite windows are located at the principal and first floor of the outer right bay, alongside a small, barred basement window. Windows are symmetrically disposed at the centre, with a bipartite window at ground level and single windows for the upper floors. The round tower has a battered base course, a barred tripartite window at ground level, a bipartite window at the first floor with a hoodmould running as a string course, and a tripartite window at the second floor with a billeted cornice. It is topped with a candle-snuffer fish-scale roof. An advanced outer gable incorporates a tripartite sandstone mullioned window at the principal floor, with a hoodmould acting as a string course. A barred window is placed at ground level, and a single window is located at the first floor.

Plate glass sash and case windows are found on the west elevation and in the tower and south bay window. Other windows include 8- and 12-pane sash and case types, and a 6-pane sash and case window for the upper floor of the entrance tower.

The interior features a main stair hall containing a narrow, winding stair with modern cast-iron balusters and a wooden handrail. A gently convex cabinet recess is present at the half-landing. Much of the hotel interior has been modernised, with modern bars located to the left and right, exposing timber ceilings. The rear of the hotel has also been completely modernised.