Grieve's House And Garage, Holland, Stronsay

The site comprises a later 19th-century farmhouse and an early 19th-century steading, with the incorporation of earlier building materials. The structures are built of sandstone rubble, with some harling to the farm buildings and the earlier house (now used as storage). Some areas feature irregular coursed stone. Additional farm buildings are located to the south of the courtyard, including a smithy and byre.

The farmhouse displays a prominent advanced central porch with bipartite windows and a circular finial to the porch roof. A door is located in the right return, with bipartite windows in the flanking bays. The main elevation also exhibits a central single window on the first floor, with further bipartite windows on either side. The farmhouse is attached to an earlier house at its north gable. Other elevations were not visible during a 2000 inspection.

The windows are predominantly timber sash and case, with two panes. Two polygonal piended dormer windows are situated within the roof. The roof is covered in purple-grey slate, featuring raised flat-head skews and coped gable end stacks with circular clay cans. A ridge stack is present on the earlier farmhouse, and the roof is tiled with stone slabs. The interior of the farmhouse features panelled timber doors and doorframes, deep skirting boards, and decorative plaster cornicing including egg and dart and floral motifs. Original fireplaces remain, including a fine later 19th-century fireplace in the dining room, with a heavy black marble surround and mantel, inset glazed floral pattern tiles, and a decorative iron hood.

The west range of the steading includes a two-storey byre attached to the former house. Adjacent to this is another two-storey byre, connected by a pair of steps with a connecting platform; an upper level in both byres likely provided accommodation for itinerant workers. The north range contains a stable block and a cattle feeding byre. The east range features a crowstepped two-storey threshing barn, with a lean-to engine shed to the east, incorporating a chimney. The south range has an arched entrance to the courtyard, a cartshed open to the courtyard, and a granary above. A welding shed is situated between the house and the cartshed.

A smithy is located to the south of the courtyard, along with a garage and the former grieve’s house. A low heifer byre is to the east of the smithy. Within the courtyard is a single-storey crowstepped byre, attached to an L-plan byre. Part of the midden wall remains within the courtyard. The original Blackstone engine, which previously powered the threshing machine, remains in use and is now connected to mains electricity. Smithy equipment remains in situ, including tools, an anvil, bellows, and a blade sharpener constructed from an inscribed gravestone.

The roofs are predominantly stone slab, with asbestos on the northwest byre and stable range. Partially crowstepped roofs are found on the heifer byre and the smithy.