27, 28 and 29 St Andrew Square and 1 North St Andrew Lane

The building at 27, 28 and 29 St Andrew Square and 1 North St Andrew Lane was designed by J M Dick Peddie and George Washington Browne and constructed between 1897 and 1898. Later alterations and an extension were undertaken by Michael Laird & Partners in 1982. It is a substantial three-storey building with a basement and attic, built in red sandstone ashlar and representing a neo-Jacobean insurance office, situated on a corner site that slopes towards the north.

The St Andrew Square elevation is symmetrical and features seven bays at ground level, articulated by panelled Ionic pilasters and a full entablature. The arched openings are topped with keystones, and the central doorway is framed by free-standing Ionic columns with enriched spandrels and a projecting entablature bearing the inscription “SCOTTISH EQUITABLE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY” in the frieze. A solid parapet tops the facade. The upper floors have five bays (outer bays double width), with a giant order of panelled Corinthian pilasters and a full entablature with a heavy, modillioned cornice. The first-floor windows have cornices, with two sets of transoms; they are four-light in the centre and outer bays and two-light in the inner bays. The second-floor windows have a single transom, again with three-light windows to the centre and outer bays and two-light windows to the inner bays. The attic features substantial shaped Dutch gables with segmental pediments at the apex of the centre and outer bays, linked by open balustrades.

The St Andrew Street elevation sits on a battered basement. The three bays to the left are similar to the St Andrew Square elevation, with a pair of gables. To the right is a ten-bay range featuring mullion and transomed windows, a series of superimposed orders, and a row of skylights; however, it lacks gables. A return gable has a pilastered doorway at ground level and was rebuilt to the rear.

The windows are timber casements with plate glass. Other external details include ashlar coped skews, corniced ashlar stacks, and grey slates.

The interior, limited to the entrance hall and boardrooms, features a revolving door leading to a three-bay arcaded Italian Renaissance marble hall. This hall boasts contrasting green and veined marbles, alabaster Composite capitals, mirrored infills to the arcade, and a columnar screen separating it from a Jacobean panelled scale and platt stair. The stair's first flight has marble treads, while the ceiling features a modillioned cornice and a black and white marble floor. A panelled window bay is also present. A large room is located to the west at the front, while a smaller room occupies the east corner. On the first floor, an arched screen at the landing leads to a central lobby, featuring a panelled dado, a pilastered white marble chimney piece, and separating the Boardroom and Dining Room. The Boardroom is half-panelled with a compartmentalised plaster ceiling, a two-tier timber chimney piece with Ionic columns, a bolection-moulded marble surround, and a polished steel grate. The Dining Room is virtually identical.

An ashlar balustrade, articulated by panelled piers, runs along the basement area.