The Beehive, 2 Quality Street, North Berwick

The Beehive, located at 2 Quality Street in North Berwick, is an 18th century group of buildings that may include some earlier elements. It is a two-storey, obtuse L-plan structure formed from two adjoining houses, with a stair block situated in the re-entrant angle.

The north-south house, dating from the later 18th century, is constructed from squared rubble red Law stone with whinstone pinning and features painted ashlar margins. The sides and rear are harled. The west front is symmetrical with three bays and includes a door architrave with roll-moulding. The entrance has a panelled door with small-pane upper panels, flanked by tripartite windows. The first floor has pointed windows with cills resting on the ground floor lintels, and there is a moulded eaves cornice. The north gable is blank, while the south gable retains a section of a former mutual gable that bears a bronze plaque commemorating the Second World War. The rear features a central projecting piend roofed stair block with a pointed window to the east, flanked by another pointed window with a small opening inserted below on the north side, and an abutting wing on the south side. The windows have small-pane glazing with Y-tracery in pointed arches. The roof is slate with lead flashings, and it has plain skews and gable head stacks.

The east-west house is built from rubble Law stone and is harled on the south and east sides. The south side is continuous with the south gable of the main house and has irregular fenestration. There are paired first floor gabletted windows that break the eaves at the centre and east. The east gable and north side are blank. The glazing pattern includes small-pane windows and two with lying-pane. The roof is pantiled with slated dormers and has plain skews on the east gable, featuring a lower ridge line than the adjoining property.

Inside, there is a deep entrance doorway, a curved timber stair, coved ceilings on the first floor, and panelled doors.