Royal Hotel, 2 Argyll Square, Oban

The Royal Hotel, prominently situated at 2 Argyll Square, Oban, is a later 19th-century hotel built in a Classical style with Italianate detailing. It comprises a four-storey and double-height attic L-shaped main block and a three-storey and attic wing of a kinked plan, forming a U-shaped layout with a courtyard to the rear. The building presents a six-bay facade to George Street, a seven-bay facade to Argyll Square, and an additional curved bay at the corner of the square.

The principal elevations are constructed of sandstone ashlar, with stugged and horizontally channelled detailing at ground and first floor levels of the corner bay and flanking bays. Architectural features include cornices at the first floor and eaves levels, string courses at the first and second floor sill levels, and a string course at the first-floor lintel level which ties in with the pediments. A consoled eaves cornice sits above a low corniced parapet, itself terminated with finials. The corner bays are raised one storey, featuring a double string course and cornice with a blocking course at the eaves, topped with a French domed pavilion roof. Pilasters divide the corner and flanking bays, channelled at ground and first floor levels, with superimposed segmental pediments above the first-floor cill level. These pilasters extend to the eaves of the raised corner section, terminating as panelled dies finished by caps with segmental faces. Windows at the first, second and third floors, and within the raised portion, are all architraved. Bracketed, alternating segmental and triangular pediments adorn the first-floor windows, with further bracketted pediments above the first floor. Second-floor windows are corniced with brackets, and the third-floor windows have corniced cills with small brackets. A two-storey mansard roof covers the main block, punctuated by single- and bipartite dormer windows at both levels.

The southwest (Argyll Square) elevation features a central entrance doorway within the six-bay section to the right of bay one. This doorway is round-arched, architraved with a keystone and flanked by Doric columns whose capitals and entablature are obscured by a modern illuminated canopy. Large, closely spaced windows are found at ground floor level, with tripartite windows positioned to the outer left and right of the first floor.

The northwest (Airds Place) elevation is near-symmetrical, with a two-bay section to the outer left slightly advanced, corresponding with the pilastered bay adjacent to the curved corner bay to the right. A doorway is centrally positioned, pilastered with decorative scrolled brackets and a carved floral swag above; an accompanying cornice, balustrade and small finials complete the detail. The ground floor features large, closely spaced windows, while a shallow segmental pediment sits above the three central windows at first floor level, flanked by tripartite windows within the outer bays.

The rear elevations are characterized by near-regular fenestration within granite rubble walls with sandstone dressings, typically rendered over. Plate glass timber sash and case windows are prevalent on the principal elevations, except for modern glazing at ground floor level, while the mansard dormers feature four-pane timber sash and case windows. Larger windows and dormers are present on the rear elevations, also with four-pane timber sash and case windows and some bipartites. A two-storey, light grey-green slated mansard roof covers the main block, while a single-storey mansard roof covers the wing, complete with a dormer window to each bay.