Livingstone House, 17-39 Cowgate, Edinburgh

Livingstone House, located at 17-39 Cowgate in Edinburgh, was designed by Robert Raeburn in 1877-8 and later altered by Thomas Purves Marwick in 1903. This two-storey and attic building is styled in the Scottish 17th century manner and features eight bays facing Cowgate, with three bays on the left designed by Raeburn. The ground floor includes shops in the first three bays on the right and a single bay with a shop front on Candlemaker Row. A notable drum turret with a conical slated roof is corbelled out above the canted corner.

The exterior is constructed of squared and snecked bull-faced sandstone, accented with polished cream ashlar dressings. A moulded string course separates the first floor from the attic. The windows have chamfered surrounds, with mullioned and transomed windows on the first floor.

On the north elevation facing Cowgate, there is a symmetrical three-bay block to the right featuring a pilastraded shop front, which is currently blocked. A two-leaf timber panelled door is located to the outer left, set in a roll-moulded segmental-arched surround with two heraldic shields above and decoratively carved labelstops. Above this door is a small two-light window, and there are three two-light windows on the first floor. The attic features a single window with a segmental pediment in the center, flanked by paired single windows with arrowslits above in kneelered gables. The central three-bay block has mullioned and transomed windows on the ground and first floors, a crenellated parapet, and rectangular two-light dormers in the mansard-roofed attic. The left three-bay block includes a two-leaf timber panelled door in a roll-moulded round-arched surround with a hoodmould and a blank panel above, alongside two round-arched windows in rectangular surrounds to the right. The first floor features three paired pointed-arched windows in square hoodmoulds, a crenellated parapet, and three gabled dormers in the mansard-roofed attic.

On the southwest elevation facing Candlemaker Row, there is a shop window to the left and a small window to the right at ground level. A two-light window is present on the first floor, with a segmental pediment above a single window that breaks the moulded eaves cornice of the attic. A two-leaf timber panelled door leads to the canted corner, and there is sculptural decoration at the base of the drum turret, along with gargoyles under the eaves.