Fife Arms Hotel, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 Mar Road, Braemar

Fife Arms Hotel, 2–12 Mar Road, Braemar

This is a large purpose-built hotel of late 19th-century origin, substantially altered and extended in the 1890s and 1900s, with a contemporary single-storey building incorporated to the north. The main structure rises to three storeys with an attic. A distinctive crenellated two-storey, two-bay entrance porch, designed by the architect A Marshall MacKenzie, was added in 1905.

The hotel occupies a highly prominent position at the centre of the village and displays many traditional Highland architectural characteristics. The principal south elevation features a near-symmetrical composition with three gables to the central section and advanced gabled outer bays; the gable to the right is crowned with a weathervane. The building is constructed of squared, coursed pink granite rubble to this elevation, with grey granite to the outer bays and rubble elsewhere. Storeys are divided by cill courses, and there are hoodmoulds to the third floor. The roofline shows traditional overhanging eaves and timber decorative bargeboards throughout.

The off-centre entrance porch contains a pair of depressed arches with hoodmoulds, and the crenellations display a painted coat of arms of the Dukes of Fife. The porch is set within a long rustic verandah supported on timber uprights. The south elevation is pierced by two-storey canted windows with three-storey windows to the left outer bay. All windows are timber sash and case, with multi-pane upper sashes (predominantly 9, 12, or 15 panes) and plate-glass lower sashes characteristic of Arts and Crafts detailing. Large squared and coursed rubble chimney stacks rise to the ridge of the principal elevation and to the wallhead of the east, north and west elevations; these are roofed in purple slates. Cast-iron rainwater goods are throughout.

The interior has been modernised. A large ground-floor hall with principal rooms leading from it forms the central circulation space. A timber staircase with simple stained glass panels to the stairwell is a notable feature. Two chimneypieces with timber surrounds survive; that to the right features full-height reeded pilasters and a Duke of Fife coat of arms as an overmantel.

The hotel is named as such on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map and represents an important landmark in Braemar's streetscape. It demonstrates the expansion of the tourist trade in the area following Queen Victoria's visits and purchase of Balmoral, and the arrival of the railway. The building retains all its original timber sash and case windows and the majority of its original stacks, making it significant evidence of the social history of the region.

A Marshall MacKenzie, an architect of national repute and member of a major architectural dynasty, designed the entrance porch. MacKenzie began his career in the office of David Bryce and undertook the majority of his work in northern Scotland, including the rebuilding of Marischal College, Aberdeen. His royal patronage is evidenced by his design of Crathie Kirk in 1893 and his subsequent selection by the Duke and Duchess of Fife to design the new Mar Lodge in 1895. Plans for the Fife Arms Hotel by MacKenzie (undated) are held by the National Archives of Scotland.