Arrochar House, Arrochar

Arrochar House is a substantial later 19th century house of 2 storeys with attic, arranged on a 5-bay rectangular plan with rear jambs, built in front of an existing circa 1780 rectangular-plan house. The later house is constructed of stugged, squared and snecked honey-coloured sandstone with polished stone margins and dressings, string course, base course, eaves band, stugged quoins, and a wooden eaves band on paired timber consoles. It features shallow bargeboards and hoodmoulds. The earlier 18th century house behind is of painted stucco with ashlar margins and dressings, eaves, and quoin strips.

The western entrance elevation is a symmetrical 3-bay front with a gabled bay slightly advanced at the centre. The central entrance comprises a tripartite door with plate glass rectangular fanlight and 2-leaf panelled door with narrow sidelights. Above the door is a 1697 datestone with a Gaelic inscription underneath relating to the McFarlane family, topped by a stepped hoodmould. Two windows are symmetrically disposed at first floor level. The attic gablehead is carried on a corbel course with a central window featuring a hoodmould and floriate octagonal wreath directly above. The flanking symmetrical bays have shallow canted windows at ground floor and two symmetrically disposed windows at first floor, with two gabled dormers symmetrically positioned on either side of the gable, each with a pointed arch window.

The northern elevation has a gable advanced to the right with bipartite windows at ground and first floor and a single window in the gablehead. A modern single storey advanced wing obscures much of the ground floor. The gable of the circa 1780 house is largely obscured by modern single storey and lean-to additions to the outer left, though a first floor window and small gablehead window remain visible. The southern elevation features a gable with a canted window at ground floor, a bipartite window at first floor behind a blocking course, and a gablehead window with hoodmoulds. An unsympathetic modern single storey wing partly obscures the ground floor. The eastern rear elevation comprises lean-to additions.

The windows throughout comprise plate glass 4-pane timber sash and case windows on the later house and 12-pane timber sash and case windows on the earlier house at the rear. The roof is of grey slate with lead flashings and Velux rooflights on the earlier house.

The interior contains a cast-iron stair and has been modernised. The gatepiers are rendered rubble with ashlar pyramidal caps; the left pier is missing.

The 18th century house was formerly known as Inverioch or Inveriach, becoming Arrochar House in the mid 19th century. The inscription above the door relates to the McFarlane family, who had a castle on Inveruglas Isle in Loch Lomond; the datestone may have been moved from an earlier site. The Game Keeper's Cottage (now Cobbler Cottage) and the former steading on Church Road are listed separately.