Wee House, Juniper Cottage, Mar Road, Braemar

Juniper Cottage and Wee House, Braemar

A mid-19th century cottage with associated 'wee house' on Mar Road in central Braemar. The main cottage is a single storey and attic structure of three bays, constructed in granite rubble with deep eaves and projecting rafters. The symmetrical north-east facing principal elevation features a central two-leaf timber boarded door, with a pair of gable dormers breaking the eaves and a single traditional roof light positioned between them. The windows are replacement timber four-pane top hopper units. The roof is covered with graded grey slates and has gable stacks with thackstanes. The interior could not be accessed at the time of survey in November 2005.

The associated 'wee house' stands parallel to the cottage to the south-west and dates to the later 19th century. It is a single storey structure of rubble construction with two widely spaced timber boarded doors on the north-east elevation. The south-west elevation is weatherboarded with two non-traditional windows. The roof is corrugated iron with a pipe flue to the west gable.

Juniper Cottage is one of a distinctive group of listed cottages in Braemar following the traditional Highland pattern of a simple single storey and attic cottage paired with an associated 'wee house'. It is prominently located on Mar Road in the village centre and makes a significant visual impact on the streetscape, with its setting substantially unchanged over time.

The cottage exemplifies Highland construction practices particular to the region, employing granite as the primary building material, which was the most readily available stone in Aberdeenshire. The gabled dormers, timber sash and case glazing, and slate roof are all traditional regional features. The cottage has retained much of its original character, with its external appearance substantially unaltered and its footprint unchanged since the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1864–1871. Notably, Juniper Cottage is the only house in Braemar to retain its graded Glen Callater stone slates. Local tradition records that the cottage was built using stones from Kindrochit Castle.

The 'wee house' is a particularly unusual survival that distinguishes Braemar and demonstrates the village's historical development through tourism. During the 19th century, Deeside gained reputation as a health resort, and the landscape's beauty led to comparisons with Switzerland, an impression enhanced by the 'Alpine' character of some buildings. Following the Royal Family's visits from the 1840s onwards and the arrival of the railway to Ballater in the 1850s, tourism increased substantially. In response, Braemar residents constructed 'wee houses' in their gardens as summer residences, allowing them to let their main cottages to wealthy visitors. Juniper Cottage is unusual among these buildings in being partly constructed of rubble and partly of timber, whereas the remaining such buildings in the village are entirely timber-built.

The pairing of cottage and 'wee house', a grouping that survives particularly well in Braemar, represents an important reflection of the area's historical and social development.