Lewis, Stornoway, 2 North Beach

The Sail Loft (latterly Fishermens' Co-operative), c. 1830-5 Long wharfside building of a type once familiar to many fishing settlements. Originally five harled bays about a central hoist and access, extended to eight bays by 1850. Large, first floor space (formerly used as a meeting hall), with sail loft above lit by circular windows and warmed by numerous fireplaces. Visible in the attic is the former north gable of an earlier crowstepped building - the former customs house, shown in an engraving of 1789 - running at an angle from the south-east end of the Sail Loft. This building was reconstructed c.1822 as a merchant's/fish curer's house, with gently bowed three-light mullioned windows with lugged cills. It operated as a fishcuring premises under the same ownership until the 1890s and later became the Commercial Hotel, until the early 1970s. On the ground floor of the Sail Loft (which had various commercial uses from the 1880s), is a round-headed opening, formerly an external door, leading into a vaulted chamber beneath the Commercial Hotel, originally used for storing salt. Converted by the Highland Buildings Preservation Trust into flats, LDN Architects, 2005.

Stornoway Fishermens' Co-operative Ltd, Esplanade Quay, Philip McLean Architect, 1997 A sympathetic building in the style of the island's early 19th century unpretentious stone and slate buildings.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk