Arisaig House

Arisaig House is a large, gabled house of austere Arts and Crafts character, originally designed by Philip Webb in 1864. It was substantially rebuilt in 1937 following a fire, by Orphoot, Whiting and Lindsay, and subsequently underwent minor interior alterations between 1981 and 1982 for conversion into a hotel. The 1937 rebuilding retained some features and the general layout of the original house, but incorporates a new, northern twin-gabled single-storey service wing, rebuilt stacks, multi-pane glazing, and new interior fittings. The house is constructed of dark grey sneck rubble with tooled ashlar dressings, with tall stacks rebuilt in lighter grey sneck rubble.

The house is set around a deep, U-shaped entrance court, with a square, three-storey clock tower with a ribbed, leaded, bellcast roof situated in the right (southwest) angle. An off-centre entrance is sheltered by a shallow, projecting gabled porch with a recessed door, flanked by differing pointed-headed windows, the larger on the left illuminating the stairwell. The court is flanked by wings with irregular roof heights, terminating on the left northeast gable with the paired gabled single-storey service wing (1937), which has rounded angles. The southwest front is a shallow U-shape with projecting gabled wings linked by a terrace; each gable has ground-floor projecting windows. To the right is a shallow rectangular bay with a tripartite window, and to the left, a smaller canted window with a more pronounced projection. A two-storey, three-sided porch sits in the southeast re-entrant angle, featuring a pointed-headed relieving arch, a ribbed panelled door with long Arts and Crafts hinges, and a 1937 dated plaque.

The southeast elevation, mainly two-storey and attic with varying wallhead heights over a raised basement, sits on a hillside with a terraced garden below. A long, asymmetrical elevation is punctuated by a slightly projecting central gable, a first-floor canted oriel to the right, and long paired windows to the left.

A rear service court to the north has an irregular form, flanked at the northeast by a tall, narrow gabled building against the slope, with a bell hung in the southeast gable; this has been adapted into independent service accommodation, with access to a raised first floor via a forestair. Plain gabled dormers are present on all three main elevations, along with multi-pane sash and casement windows. Tall end, apex and wallhead stepped stacks rise from steeply pitched slate roofs.

The interior is simple and spacious, featuring an entrance hall, an inner stair hall, and a dog-leg staircase with an oak balustrade (1937) incorporating "cut-out" motifs, primarily birds, flowers, and a rabbit. Oak doors, door cases, and panelling, along with 1937 chimneypieces are also present. Some alterations to the first-floor bedrooms occurred between 1981 and 1982, involving the insertion of additional bathrooms. Extensive garden walls, steps, and terracing, dating from 1864, are located to the southeast and southwest, culminating in an outer boundary wall enclosing a vegetable garden at the southeast, all constructed of coursed rubble with tooled ashlar copes, some shaped.