304 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

304 Lawnmarket in Edinburgh is a building dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with later alterations and additions, including work by James Jerdan in 1896. The structure consists of two irregularly fenestrated, five-storey, three-bay blocks that face Lawnmarket, along with two wings that extend to the rear. The central section features a two-window gabled bay above a broad segmental-arched pend known as Brodie's Close, with an additional older vaulted pend to the south and a narrow flat-arched pend to the outer left, which is called Buchanan's Close.

The block on the left is harled and painted at the ground level, while the right block is constructed of random ashlar, with both blocks made of random rubble at the rear. There is a continuous cornice above the shops on both sides, with modern glazing and two-leaf timber panelled doors at the ground floor. The harled block features bracketed windows, with four grouped in a 2:2 arrangement on the first floor and three on the second floor. The third and fourth floors have shallow jetties, with four windows off-centre to the left on the third floor and three corniced windows on the fourth floor, topped by a bracketed jerkin-head over a single window in a dentilled timber gable. The random rubble block on the right has small windows on the outer right, paired later windows in the gabled second bay from the right, and small windows that light the stair in a narrow crowstepped gabled bay to the left, along with vestiges of string courses. There are paired windows in the gabled bay above Brodie's Close, and steeply pedimented timber dormers in the attic.

The entrance to a former bake-house is located below street level to the right within the pend, featuring a studded timber boarded door with decorative wrought-iron hinges and a moulded cornice above leading to a turnpike stair that provides access to the three-storey block to the southwest in a light-well between the pends. The southwest block, situated between Brodie's and Fisher's Closes and extending over the southern pend, has crowstepped gables and corniced end stacks, with a wallhead stack in the re-entrant angle, and swept dormers that break the eaves. A semicircular turret stair is corbelled out over Fisher's Close to the west. There is also a low two-storey piend-roofed block to the southeast of the pend.

Inside, the building features 17th-century plasterwork ceilings in the Celtic Lodge, which was formerly known as the Roman Eagle Hall, although this was not seen in 2001. The windows predominantly have 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case style, and the roof is covered with red pantiles, with rubble end stacks.