Gatehouse, Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh

Holyrood Free Church and School, located on Horse Wynd in Edinburgh, was designed by Robert Matheson in 1861. This impressive building features a monumental, double-height, symmetrical gatehouse in the Scots Renaissance style, characterized by corbelled and crowstepped elements. The gatehouse includes a depressed gothic arch entrance and is flanked by projecting battlemented round towers to the east, each topped with conical roofs that have finials. A central dormer with a finial and pediment breaks the eaves.

To the right and left of the gatehouse are single-storey wings, with the right wing incorporating a 17th-century former garden entrance that boasts a moulded architrave, a decorative carved frieze, and a broken pediment topped with a thistle. The building is constructed of squared and snecked sandstone, with rubble on the west side and a base course. The towers feature panels adorned with carved coats of arms, and there are crowstepped gable dormerheads on the west side.

The wings are designed with tripartite windows that have stone mullions, alongside some cross-slit openings, and a parapet on the west side. The gatehouse is fitted with 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while the single-storey wings have single-pane timber sash and case windows, all featuring horns. The roof is covered with grey slates, and the building includes skews and moulded skewputts, as well as coped gable stacks.

The interior was comprehensively modernized as of 2007.