Ice House, The Square, Balmacara

This is an early 19th century ice house situated within a roughly U-shaped courtyard, alongside a farmhouse, steading, and associated buildings of later dates. The site is located at Balmacara Farm Square.

The farmhouse is a two-storey, six-bay building, now divided into two dwellings. It is harled and features some original 12-pane sash windows, corniced ridge stacks, and a piended slate roof. Some modern glazing has been introduced.

The steading consists of a two-storey, seven-bay range constructed of whitewashed rubble. A square, central tower rises one stage above the roofline. The lower stage of the tower is faced with honey-comb dressed ashlar, above which is ashlar, with dividing band courses between the two stages. Round-headed doorways, with keystones, are located centrally on both the ground and first floors, the first-floor door being taller and showing evidence of a former hoist mechanism above it. Three blind square flightholes are present on each face of the tower at the upper stage, beneath a wide-eaved pyramidal slate roof topped with a ball finial. Cart bays are located at the rear of the steading, alongside a significantly altered hay barn of a Lochalsh type. A small, vaulted ice house is built into the bank behind the house. The tower does not contain any pigeon accommodation.

The ice house is shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1872.