A modest mid-nineteenth-century house carries an important second life as part of the pioneering Highland Folk Museum established in Kingussie.
Quick facts
- Date
- About 1840
- Architect / designer
- Individual designer unrecorded
- Type
- Two-storey three-bay house later incorporated into the former Highland Folk Museum complex
- Designation
- Listed building, Category C (LB36271)
- OS grid reference
- NH 76003 00674
Architecture, archaeology and continuing use
The symmetrical three-bay house is built in whitewashed rubble beneath a local-slate roof. A later gabled porch masks the central doorway, single-storey additions extend the composition, and blocked openings and tuskers record earlier connections or intended expansion.
Its story
Built around 1840, the house later became part of the Highland Folk Museum beside Pitmain Lodge. Isabel F Grant founded the museum in Kingussie in the 1940s before its collections and main visitor operation moved to Newtonmore. The surviving building now faces an uncertain future.
Why it is included
Category C listing recognises a representative local house made historically distinctive by its connection with Scotland’s first mainland open-air museum and the interpretation of Highland everyday life.
What to notice
- The restrained three-bay frontage beneath a local-slate roof.
- Blocked openings and projecting tuskers that reveal changes to the building.
- Later additions showing adaptation from house to museum use.
Reading the surroundings
The building is not presented as open to the public and has been identified as at risk. View from lawful public space only and do not enter the grounds or structure.
Timeline
- About 1840 MacRobert House was built as a symmetrical dwelling in the developing burgh.
- 1940s The building became part of Isabel F Grant’s Highland Folk Museum in Kingussie.
- 1987 The museum acquired a larger Newtonmore site for its expanding collections and reconstructed buildings.
- 2026 Historic Environment Scotland identified the former museum property as an at-risk heritage asset.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The building’s exact present ownership, occupancy and future programme remain unsettled; only its vacant, at-risk condition is asserted.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: MacRobert House, LB36271 — Designation status, mapped location, date, fabric and architectural or archaeological interest.
- Historic Environment Scotland consultation response — Current at-risk status and heritage-planning context.
- Trove: Pitmain Lodge and MacRobert House archive — Museum history, plans, photographs and national archive context for the linked former museum site.
Location
OS grid reference NH 76003 00674 · Location confidence: High: the national designation supplies an official mapped National Grid Reference; an additional source confirms the Place relationship, history or current identity. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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