33 High Street, Aberdour

A group of three buildings spanning the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, located at the corner of High Street in Aberdour. Number 33 occupies the north-west corner, while numbers 27 and 31 stand adjacent to its left on the north-west street elevation, with number 29 positioned to the rear on the south-east side.

Number 33 is an early 20th century corner building of two storeys and three bays, formerly a butcher's shop with a distinctive curved elevation. The principal façade features raised stucco panels with recessed geometric decorative designs flanking the bays at both ground and first floor levels, with raised margins at the first floor and along the eaves course. The ground floor has a symmetrical elevation with a central recessed tiled entrance topped by a pulvinated frieze doorpiece. Flanking this are large shop windows with ventilators set within the shopfront, surmounted by a projecting moulded cornice with dentil blocks above the fascia. The first floor windows are positioned at eaves level, set above the openings below, with decorative panels, eaves course and margins forming rectangular recessed panels flanking the windows, the panels filled with square block decorative detailing. The interior of the former butcher's shop is lined with original early 20th century white and cream tiles to near ceiling height, decorated with stylised art nouveau flower motifs and bands of green tiles. Running along the full extent of the north-west range is a metal rail supporting sliding meat hooks suspended from the ceiling. An opening with sliding timber doors provides access to number 31. A small circular stair opening rises to the ceiling, though the cast-iron spiral staircase is now missing as of 2002. A store room at first floor level retains bare, unplastered brickwork with exposed rafters to the curved roof. The shop entrance features decorative early 20th century wrought-iron half-gates, a two-leaf timber door with large full-length glass panels and decorative scalloped detailing to the bottom, a bipartite plate glass window to the left, and a tripartite plate glass window to the right. The first floor has 12-pane casement windows. The roof is slightly overhanging with brackets, finished in curved pitched slate with a coped skew to the south-east elevation. The rendered coped stacks to the west and north-east elevations have replacement circular cans.

Numbers 27 and 31 are dated 1731 and form a two-storey, two-bay gable-end house to the north-west street elevation. The building is divided into a shop at ground floor (number 31) and a flat at first floor (number 27). The principal elevation displays painted render to ground level with harling to the first floor. The date stone inscribed 'I.A.M.B 1731' is centred at the gable head. The ground floor features a door to the left and a shop window to the right, while the first floor has windows set to the left and right of the gable end. A small door set flush to the left return has a projecting extension at first floor forming a small covered court, with a door to the stair positioned further to the left. A later covered court between the advanced gables of numbers 31 and 25 contains a covered staircase leading to number 27. The interior of number 31 continues as the former butcher's shop with tiling similar in style to number 33, though without the flower-decorated tiles. Number 29 displays a ground floor window to the left with a first floor window above, while the left and right returns each have corresponding fenestration. The pitched roof is finished in modern red pantiles to the advanced gable, with an ashlar coped skew and coped ashlar gable apex stack. A pitched grey slate roof is set behind the advanced gable at numbers 31 and 27, with a rendered gable apex stack to the south-west and a mutual brick shared gable apex stack to the north-east, topped with circular clay cans. Both buildings have timber panelled doors with upper glazed panes and bipartite plate glass to the shop window, with timber plate glass sash and case windows to the first floor.

Number 29 is an earlier 19th century two-storey, three-bay square-plan house with a single storey outshot to the south-east elevation attached to the rear of numbers 27 and 31. The south-west and south-east elevations display random rubble with long and short droved ashlar at window openings and quoins, whilst the north-east elevation is rendered. The south-east elevation shows a ground floor window to the left with a first floor window above, and a plain gable of the single storey outshot to the right. The left return has a ground floor door to the left with a window to the right, and two equally spaced windows at first floor. The right return features a modern lean-to at ground floor and a first floor window to the far right. The interior contains a stone winder stair rising from ground to first floor. The ground floor comprises a large room with a sink built into a recess at the north-east window. The first floor is a large room with a late 19th century tiled fireplace centred to the south-east elevation, flanking press to the left with a timber panelled door, timber panelled shutters to windows, and a plain cornice. Externally, the building has timber boarded doors and 12-pane timber sash and case windows to both the house and outshot. The pitched roof is finished in red clay pantiles with ashlar coped skews and a squat ashlar gable apex stack, though cans are missing as of 2002 to the south-east elevation.

The courtyard to the rear of numbers 31 and 33 contains rubble walls with rubble coping and remains of a high stone wall incorporated into 2 Shore Road. The north-east wall features bee boles dating to the 18th or early 19th century, repaired by Ian McCrone circa 2004. A run of six boles is divided by stone slabs with a continuous chamfered course above. Below a window to the rear of number 29 is a well, consisting of a circular stone-lined hole in the ground. A trough to the south-west comprises a roughly rectangular stone basin set in the ground. All three buildings are rendered in painted render or harling to their principal elevations on the High Street frontage.