Trossachs Hotel, Loch Achray

Trossachs Hotel, Loch Achray

This Grade B listed building dates to 1849 and stands as a striking example of 19th century Romantic Movement tourism architecture. It is a rectangular-plan hotel of three storeys with attic, designed in a distinctive Gothick and Baronial hybrid style. The building was conceived by Lord Willoughby D'Eresby with architectural advice from G.P. Kennedy, an architect who also worked on Drummond Castle (the seat of the Willoughby D'Eresby family) and designed the nearby Trossachs Parish Church.

The original 1849 building comprises a three-bay main south-facing entrance section flanked by slightly tapering towers at the first and second stages. The centred door is set within a squat vaulted recessed porch with a segmental pointed arch. Above the door sits a pair of full-height roll-moulded round-arched first-floor windows articulated with keystones and a central blank panel. The towers feature near-regular fenestration. A wrought and cast iron porch dating to 1894 originally extended to the towers, though only the central section survives. The east elevation reveals the building is only one gable in width, giving it a distinctive lofty appearance. The rear of the 1849 block, now partially obscured by a large modern leisure centre with swimming pool, shows the building is arranged with two flanking slightly advanced wings to the outer bays, topped by what appears to be a later mansard roof.

Extensions were added throughout the second half of the 19th century. An east wing built in 1853 provided a further 30 bedrooms and comprises basement, three storeys and attic across five bays. The five-bay west wing, including a corner tower, was built in 1891 and also extends to basement, three storeys and attic. This wing demonstrates more conventional Baronial detailing, including crowstepped gables, corbelled detailing and cable knot moulding. The majority of the rear of the 1891 wing is obscured by a large modern accommodation wing, though the tall mullioned three-light stair window remains visible.

Construction materials include roughly coursed random rubble with a battered rubble base course to the principal elevation and towers of the 1849 block. A distinctive heavy moulded sandstone string course runs across the first and second floors of the 1849 block, repeated to the first floor of the 1891 block. A sandstone eaves course articulated with corbel motif appears on the principal elevation and towers of the 1849 block and the tower of the 1891 block. Long and short rubble dressings finish the openings of the 1849 block, while the 1891 block and tower to the east wing feature sandstone long and short dressings. Original timber sash and case dormer windows with tile-hung cheeks face south. Modern timber sash and case windows with horns are now in place. Clustered polygonal ashlar ridge stacks with raised corniced skews top the 1849 block, whilst the 1891 block features crowstepped gables with broad ashlar stacks. Pitched grey slate roofs cover the building, with a mansard to the rear of the 1849 block fitted with triangular ventilators and three ball finials. The towers are distinguished by grey slated bellcast roofs swept at the eaves with conical profiles, banded with fishscale detailing and crowned with cast iron finials featuring bird motifs on the 1891 wing. Modern rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The building dominated the landscape on the north-west shores of Loch Achray and fell into serious disrepair in the late 20th century. In the early 1990s, the hotel was converted to holiday apartments and reopened for tourists in 1993. The 1992 renovations involved the complete gutting of the interior, demolition and rebuilding of the 1853 east wing (its original corner tower was retained), and the addition of a large five-storey and attic wing to the west. Despite these modern alterations, Tigh Mor Trossachs (as it is also known) remains a striking building that stands as a testament to 19th century tourism in the Trossachs and the associated Romantic Movement.