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Inveraray, Front Street West, Argyll Arms Hotel
Inn (18th Century)
Site Name Inveraray, Front Street West, Argyll Arms Hotel
Classification Inn (18th Century)
Alternative Name(s) West Front Street; The Great Inn
Canmore ID 73116
Site Number NN00NE 32
NGR NN 09554 08601
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/73116
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Inveraray
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
Inveraray, Argyll Arms Hotel.
Architect: John Adam, 1750-1753
Plans:
I.G.Lindsay Collection, W/142 and W/363/8.
NN00NE 32.01 NN 09578 08585 Porter's Lodge, Cottage
NN00NE 32.02 NN 09551 08573 Stables and Coachhouses
Field Visit (October 1988)
The 'great inn' occupies the NW end of Front Street, between the arched screens to the Avenue and the Dalmally Road, in the area proposed for it in 1744 in the first sketch plan for the New Town. With the institution of the new circuit court in 1748, suitable lodgings became necessary for judges, officials and lawyers, and the inn was the first public building to be erected (en.1).
John Adam prepared plans in 1750, which were subsequently amended at the suggestion of Harry Barclay of Collairnie, an amateur architect, and the contract for £1400 was awarded in 1751 to William Douglas, who completed the building four years later (en.2). In 1785 Robert Mylne gave particular attention to the inn when designing the adjacent screens, and his drawing proposed alterations to the NE front. He may also have advised on the bow-fronted SW wing, built in 1793-4 by John Tavish at a cost of £455; the internal layout of the main block was altered at the same time, and a second stable-court was added to the SW (en.3). The interior was extensively remodelled about the end of the 19th century, and was renovated after a serious fire in the early 1950s.
RCAHMS 1992, visited October 1988
[see RCAHMS 1992, No. 203, for a full architectural description]
