Ayre Hotel, Ayre Road, Kirkwall

The Ayre Hotel, located on Ayre Road in Kirkwall, dates back to around 1791 and has undergone several alterations and additions since its construction. This two-storey hotel features attics and consists of 13 bays. The original structure includes a pair of three-bay houses with crowstepped gables on the left, which have been modified with gabled dormers that break the eaves. There are two dormers with finials on the right side, additional box dormers on the left block, and two flat-roofed single-storey entrance porches. To the right, there is a slightly recessed two-storey, four-bay addition, along with a flat-roofed single-storey extension on the outer right. A modern two-storey projection is located at a right angle to the rear of the building.

The northern (principal) elevation is organized in groups of three bays: 3-3-3-3. The three-bay group to the left of the centre features a window in the entrance porch at ground level in the centre bay, with Doric pilasters flanking a modern, part-glazed door that has a letterbox fanlight in the left return. There is a window in the right return and another window above on the first floor. Each of the flanking bays also has a window on both floors. The three-bay block on the outer left includes a window in the entrance porch at ground level in the centre bay, a part-glazed modern door with a letterbox fanlight in the left return, and a window in the right return, with windows on each floor above. Each of these bays is topped with two evenly spaced box dormers. The recessed four-bay block to the right of centre has windows on each floor in the two central bays, with a part-glazed modern door at ground level in the outer right bay and windows above on the first floor. There are also two-leaf boarded doors leading to a round-arched doorway in a single-storey, rectangular-plan porch, which features a cast-iron balcony at the internal angle on the outer left. Additionally, there is a window above in the main block and a window in each bay of the three-bay block on the outer right.

The southern (rear) elevation is irregularly fenestrated, with additions spanning the ground bays, four evenly spaced gabletted attic windows breaking the eaves, and a seven-bay piended projection extending at a right angle to the outer left.

The hotel primarily features four-pane timber-framed windows with top-hung upper lights. The roof is covered in grey slate, with stone ridges and skews, and predominantly cast-iron rainwater goods. The interior has been converted for use as a hotel, but it was not fully seen during the last inspection in 1998.