Ballachulish House, South Ballachulish

Ballachulish House is a mid to late 18th-century laird's house of 2 storeys and 5 bays with a rectangular plan and double gables, built in two phases: the eastern range possibly from 1764 and the western range possibly from around 1799. An early to mid-19th-century 2-storey, 4-bay rectangular-plan wing extends at right angles to the north. A single-storey kitchen wing adjoins the main block to the south, and a 20th-century single-storey glazed extension extends to the rear. The house and a separate bothy are constructed of white harled rubble with stone cills to the west elevation of the main block.

The principal (west) elevation has 5 bays with a central timber-panelled door flanked by a plain fanlight and windows, five 1st-floor windows centred above ground-floor openings, and a central cast-iron rooflight. The single-storey kitchen wing projects to the south with a large timber-mullioned window.

The east and south elevations form an L-plan courtyard. The main block's east elevation has 5 bays, a piended porch off-centre to the left with a flanking window, and a long single-pitch conservatory to the right. A long central staircase window and flanking 1st-floor windows are located above, with a large central pitched dormer window wholly within the roof and slate cheeks centred above the stair window. The north wing's south elevation has 3 bays with a central timber-panelled door with astragalled fanlight and flanking windows, plus 2 first-floor windows.

The north (garden) elevation of the main block shows a ground-floor window to the left with a 1st-floor window above. The north wing's 4-bay elevation includes 3 ground-floor windows with a door to the right return showing raggles of a lean-to porch, 4 first-floor windows with a long stair window to the far right, and 3 Velux rooflights.

The interior features a centrally positioned stone staircase with stone risers to the first flight. The double drawing room at the north end contains two earlier 19th-century marble fireplaces with plain cornices, and most rooms have late 19th-century fire surrounds. Windows throughout are predominantly plate glass in timber sash-and-case frames, though a number of 12-pane timber sash-and-case windows remain. The pitched roofs are covered in grey slates with coped gablehead and ridge stacks fitted with circular clay cans.

The rectangular-plan bothy, standing to the southeast as a single-storey structure with an attic and 3 bays, is rendered and dates from the early to mid-19th century. Its west elevation has a timber door to the left, a central window with an inscribed and dated lintel above reading "17 IS MW 64" with a carved heart separating the initials, and a stable door to the right. The south elevation's gablehead contains a dovecot opening with an alighting ledge. Three ground-floor windows occupy the east elevation, with 3 Velux rooflights above. The north elevation has one ground-floor window to the left and one attic window to the right. The pitched roof is covered in grey slates with a coped and rendered gablehead stack to the south.

The walled garden forms a roughly rectangular plan, formerly attached to the house to the north with its southwest portion now missing. It has a central door to the north wall, is constructed of random smooth stone rubble with slate vertical coping, and includes isolated stone steps to the south. A rubble column sundial with a slate table dial stands at the south end, likely dating from the 20th century. A rubble and slate circular fountain basin, also probably 20th century, occupies the north end.

Boundary walls of smooth rubble extend to the east, connecting to the walled garden line. Circular-plan smooth rubble gatepiers at the A828 to the west are connected to an L-plan low boundary wall and are topped with conical smooth rubble caps, recently repaired.

Ballachulish House was formerly the seat of the Stewarts of Ballachulish. The marriage lintel now incorporated into the bothy was probably originally positioned in the east range of the main block, with initials representing John Stewart, 5th of Ballachulish, and his wife Margaret, daughter of William Wilson of Murrayshall. The original house is said to have been built in 1640 and is reported to have been the location from which the decision on the date for the Massacre of Glencoe was made in 1692. This original house was later burned by Hanoverian soldiers in 1746. The house now operates as Ballachulish House Hotel as of 2002. A former home farm located to the south has been significantly altered in the late 20th century. The fountain and sundial do not appear on Ordnance Survey maps of 1875 and 1900.