Spa Pavilion, Strathpeffer

The Spa Pavilion, built in 1879-81 to designs by W C Joass, served as a social hub for the spa town and contrasts with the nearby medical and curative pump rooms. It is a large, rectangular hall, with a harled exterior and applied timber framing. A continuous veranda originally ran along the north gable (containing the main entrance) and the long east and west elevations; these were initially open with a lean-to roof supported by slender columns, but have since been enclosed with glazing, and a weather-boarded lower frontage. A later wing extends from the northeast corner. The north gable is punctuated by a large, multi-pane lunette. The building has coved and barge-boarded eaves, with some wooden dog-tooth decoration at the veranda eaves, a large ridge skylight (replacing an earlier saddle vent), wooden apex finials, and slate roofs. References include an advertisement for tenders in the Inverness Courier on December 4, 1879, and R Fortescue Fox's book, Strathpeffer Spa (1896).