Balgarth Hotel, 8 Dunure Road, Ayr

The Balgarth Hotel, located at 8 Dunure Road, Ayr, was originally designed by James A Morris in 1892, with later additions also by Morris after 1898. It is a two-storey, ten-bay and attic, asymmetrical villa. The building is constructed of sandstone with ashlar dressings and timber eaves.

The south-east elevation, the main entrance front, features a gabletted entrance on the right-hand side, with a pair of timber doors. Bipartite windows flank the entrance, and there are single and bipartite windows on the first floor. A tripartite window is situated above in an advanced gablet, with an arrowslit in the gable. Additional features include a narrow single window with a swan-neck pedimented head, and a tripartite window in the attic. To the right of the entrance is a single window and, further out, two single windows. A tripartite window features on the ground floor, while a quadripartite window is positioned on the first floor of the gabled bay to the left of the entrance. A flat-roofed dormer is above the gable. A gabled timber entrance is located to the left, with domed caps to flanking finials, a segmental Dutch gablehead above a single window, two pairs of strip windows, a timber door, and steps behind the lower walling. Further to the left is a pair of timber doors.

The north-west elevation is thirteen bays wide, grouped as 4-5-1-1-1-1. A single-storey, four-bay section is advanced to the outer left, with gables (except the penultimate bay), two windows to the gable on the left, a glazed door to the penultimate bay, and three single windows to the linked gabled bays on the right. A glazed timber door is located in the re-entrant angle to the right. The main block to the right is two storeys and has an attic, with a canted corner bay. This section features six single windows on the ground floor, three windows on the first floor, and segmental pedimented dormer heads above three bays to the left, with a flat-roofed bipartite dormer to the right. A tripartite window is on the ground floor and a bipartite window breaking the eaves to form a finialled pediment head is on the first floor. The bay to the right contains a bipartite dormer, a single ground floor window and two first floor windows. A canted corner bay displays single ground floor windows and two first floor windows. A glazed timber door with a catslide roof links to a single-storey polygonal plan section to the right, featuring four pairs of bipartite windows, with a single pair of bipartite windows to the walling further out.

The south-west and north-east elevations were not inspected in 1999.

The windows are predominantly timber sash and case, and the roof is slate-covered, with timber eaves, coped ridges, pitch stacks, and circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods are also present.

The interior of the hotel includes elaborate dado panels, decorative bowed panels to a timber gallery, and a keystoned, austere fireplace.

A brick boundary wall partially encloses the site, with modern coped gatepiers marking the pedestrian entrance.