Gates And Dovecot, Including Walls, Creag-Ard House (Formerly Known As Craigard), Loch Ard

Creag-Ard House is a T-plan villa dating to circa 1888, situated on a prominent site overlooking Loch Ard, originally set within landscaped gardens. The main living areas are within the west-facing cross wing, with a service wing extending to the rear (east). The house is two storeys high, with first-floor windows set within gables that break the eaves. It is valued for its preserved landscaped setting and its contribution to the character of the Loch Ard area.

The architectural style of Creag-Ard House is defined by extensive decorative bargeboarding on the gables. The main west elevation has three bays, the left of which has an advanced gable with a canted bay, both adorned with bargeboarding. A square porch with a gabled roof sits in the re-entrant angle, featuring a large round-headed window facing west; a small gabled dormer is positioned above the porch. The right-hand gabled bay incorporates a rectangular bay window on the ground floor and a triple window above.

The north and south side elevations are simpler; both display the two-bay gable end of the main wing to the west, and the three-bay rear wing with steeply pitched gables breaking the eaves. At the rear, a single-storey block originally had a double-pitched roof (remnants of which remain as visible raggles) which was replaced with a flat roof in the 20th century.

The interior retains much original plasterwork and joinery. The principal north-facing room features a classical marble fireplace. The principal south-facing room has an unusual fireplace carved from timber and polished orange stone. Some rooms in the rear wing and on the first floor have been subdivided or have undergone minor layout alterations; the original stair balusters have been removed.

The house is constructed of whin rubble with stugged cream sandstone margins and quoins, utilising stop-chamfered margins. Timber-panelled storm doors are found within the porch. Windows are timber sash and case with plate glass, with several mullioned double windows on the ground floor. The pitched roof is covered in graded slates, with overhanging eaves supported by brackets and decorated with scalloped bargeboards; cast iron thistle finials are present on some gables. Coped gable-end stacks have circular cans. Ornamental cast iron rainwater hoppers are also present.

A random rubble wall with saddle back copes runs south to north across the garden in front of the house. To the south of the house are wrought iron entrance gates, supported by cast iron gatepiers.

Adjacent to the northwest corner of the house is a white-painted timber dovecot, mounted on a pole, with a square plan and ornamental gables. Flight holes are arranged in a pyramidal pattern, six on each side.