Viewfield, 33 Chapel Brae, Braemar

Viewfield is a late 19th-century building located on Chapel Brae in Braemar, and sits within a group of listed cottages that share a distinctive traditional character. It is a single-story building with an attic, and is three bays wide, with a separate timber ‘wee house’ situated to the southeast. The exterior is constructed of pink granite rubble with tooled dressings. The symmetrical south (principal) elevation features a central four-panelled door, the upper panels glazed and topped with a dentilled cornice and a simple plate glass fanlight. There are two piended and canted dormers in the attic. Timber four-pane sash and case windows are found throughout. The roof is covered in purple slate, with bracketed eaves and a cat slide roof extending from a lean-to on the north elevation. The building has gable stacks.

Inside, the original room layout is still discernible despite modernisations, consisting of two rooms over two, with a staircase rising in the centre, aligned with the length of the building. The kitchen is located in the rear lean-to. Service bells remain in the kitchen.

The associated timber ‘wee house’ is a single-story, five-bay building clad in weatherboard. It is asymmetrical, with a pair of timber boarded doors on the right side and a boarded timber door flanked by four-pane timber sash and case windows on the left. It has a slate roof. Access to the interior was not possible at the time of resurvey and the structure was noted as being in poor condition.

Viewfield is representative of the traditional architecture of the area, employing timber, stone, and slate in its construction. The building incorporates a dentilled front door, a common feature found in the surrounding properties. While some internal modernisation has occurred, the cottage largely retains its original character. The ‘wee house’ is an unusual survival that highlights the historical development of the village, particularly in relation to tourism. During the 19th century, Deeside became increasingly popular as a health resort, attracting visitors drawn to the landscape's alpine qualities. Following Royal Family visits from the 1840s and the arrival of the railway at Ballater in the 1850s, tourism flourished, prompting residents to build ‘wee houses’ in their gardens for seasonal occupancy, allowing them to rent out their cottages to visitors.