1, 3 Charles Street, Oban

1, 3 Charles Street in Oban is an early 19th-century building consisting of a two-storey range of symmetrical three-bay houses arranged in an L-plan formation to the west and south. The walls are made of random rubble with a render finish, except for the east gable of the south range. There are stone stairs with solid stone balustrades leading to the first floor of the east house in the south range and in the re-entrant angle of the two ranges.

The south elevation features a nine-bay front with three sets of three-bay houses. Entrance doors are located at the ground floor in bays two and five. The entrance to the east house is at the ground floor beneath a platform of an external stair that leads to an additional entrance door on the first floor.

The north (rear) elevation has five bays, with a shallow projecting addition at bay three that includes a horizontal window below the eaves. There is an entrance door at the first floor on the side, and another entrance door to the southwest house at bay one on the first floor.

The west elevation has five bays and abuts the annexe of the Argyll Hotel to the north, with bays four and five forming the end gable of the house at the southwest corner. The entrance door to the north house is located at the second bay, and there are enlarged windows at bay four.

On the east (rear) elevation, there is a door at the centre of the north house on the ground floor, with a low rectangular recess in the projecting addition to the right. The ground floor of bays one and three of the west range features four-pane timber sash and case windows. The east house has plate glass windows and a vertically boarded timber door at the first-floor entrance. Some timber lintels remain, while modern six-pane timber windows with hoppers are found elsewhere. The roof is covered in grey slate, except for modern felt tiles on the east house, and there are cast iron gutters and downpipes. The east house also has blocked and rendered apex stacks with thackstanes.