The Crusoe Hotel was built in 1824 as a granary, although from very early days the end of the building closest to the sea was used as an inn. The original appearance of the building is shown above. The roof is of uniform height and style over the full length of the building. However, on the evening of 8th January 1911 a serious fire broke out in a room on the third storey of the inn. According to the next day's Evening Telegraph, the Buckhaven Fire Brigade were summoned, by the proprietor Mr Thomas Lumsden, and arrived within 30 minutes. By that time, flames were bursting through the roof. Unfortunately, the tide was out and the fire brigade had to rely instead on the Keil Burn. The top floor was completed gutted but the fire was prevented from spreading to other floors or to the adjoining granary, stores and stables. Water damage did however contribute to overall damage of £1,000. As the fire started in a room not occupied for over 24 hours, the cause of the blaze was not known.
After the fire damage, the building was repaired and modernized. The notable change was to the roof, with the beach-side of the building featuring a flat roof. Perhaps this design proved to be leaky, as it was eventually replaced with the present roof - now higher on the sea-side than the other side. In 1920, the granary was converted into a tearoom, extending the facilities of the hotel, by the owner Mr Howard Barnes Moss. Its license was granted on the condition that no liquor be sold in the tearoom. The most recent major change to the building was the early 1990s extension (see lower right image) which runs perpendicular to the main building.
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