Bute Estate Office, 55 High Street, Rothesay, Bute

The Bute Estate Office, located at 55 High Street, Rothesay, is a substantial building dating primarily to the late 17th century, with a skew date of 1681, and refurbished in the late 20th century. It is a rectangular, three-storey-with-attic, six-bay former town house, to which a two-storey, two-bay pitched addition has been made on the outer right (incorporating the buildings at Nos 57 and 59). The building is whitewashed with harl and features polished yellow sandstone dressings. A raised string course and a moulded lintel course run beneath the eaves, and the building has crowstepped gables. Chamfered surrounds feature around the openings, with tabbed detailing visible on Nos 57 and 59. A single-storey, rectangular outbuilding of random rubble construction stands at the rear, with tooled long and short yellow rubble sandstone dressings.

The west (entrance) elevation of No 55 is dominated by a full-height, projecting, crowstepped stair tower, offset to the left of centre. This tower has single windows at ground and first floor levels, and an attic window offset to the right. A boarded timber door is set at ground level within a re-entrant angle facing north, with an armorial panel above it, and a single attic window below the eaves. A single window is situated in the re-entrant angle facing south on the first floor. A small square opening is located at ground level in the bay to the outer left, and a single window is positioned at first floor in the bay to the right. A bipartite window is offset to the right of the stair tower on the first floor, with the smaller window to the right. The remaining bays are regularly fenestrated at all floors. Nos 57 and 59 have a two-leaf boarded timber (carriage) door set in a segmental-arched surround at ground level in the bay to the outer left, a single window offset to the right on the first floor, and a boarded timber opening on the first floor in the bay to the outer right.

The building predominantly features eight and twelve-pane timber sash and case windows. The roof is a graded grey slate, bell-cast design with crowstepped skews bearing the date 1681. Corniced apex stacks are present on the north and south sides, along with a coped and corniced apex stack to the west. Various circular cans are also visible.

The interior has been converted for office use. It retains 18th-century panelling and plain plaster cornice work. An ornately carved Welsh overmantle is located in the upper office, featuring stylised figures, foliate detailing, and a foliate frieze.

The rear elevation of the outbuilding has a boarded timber door offset to the left of centre and a single window (originally a door) offset to the right. It is capped with a graded grey slate piend roof.