Rait is an example of a hall house, or a small defensible dwelling "whose analogy is the fortified manor-house of England."

— Deborah Fritz from Stewart Cruden. The Scottish Castle. p91.

"They [hall houses] are not towers, and they are unconnected with curtain-walls. To distinguish them from strongholds which are characterised by one or other or both of these basic components, and particularly to distinguish them from tower-houses, which are also independent and free-standing, we might conveniently call them hall-houses."

"Rait is an oblong hall over an unvaulted undercroft. A round tower rising from a spreading base projects from one corner. The elevated entrance led into a screens passage separated from the hall by a timber screen, now vanished...Off this a small lancet window permitted the porter to observe the approach. The doorway is arched in receding orders of broad splays beneath a label mould. A portcullis and draw-bar secured it."

— Stewart Cruden. The Scottish Castle. p91, p97-8.