Priory House, Cottage Hospital, Reid Street, Dunfermline

Priory House, originally a villa, dates from around 1835, with significant additions made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a two-storey and basement building with a rectangular plan, extended to the north and west to create an E-shaped layout. The original block presents a symmetrical facade and exhibits Greek Revival detailing, most notably a Doric porch.

The principal (south) and side elevations of the original block are faced with polished sandstone ashlar, while the rear elevation uses stugged sandstone with droved ashlar dressings. Polished ashlar also features on the west extension, with harled finishes elsewhere on the later additions, incorporating ashlar dressings. The original block features a base course and a band course beneath a mutuled eaves cornice, with architraved windows.

The south elevation rises to steps leading to a central Greek Doric entrance porch, featuring a mutuled cornice supported by fluted columns with pilasters. The porch shelters a two-leaf, four-panel timber door with a rectangular fanlight. Flanking the door are three-light windows with timber mullions, cornices and aprons. Pedimented windows are found in each bay on the first floor, each with a moulded architrave and frieze and a decorative cast iron balcony. A low parapet sits above the central bay. A single-bay extension, dated to the late 19th century, is set back slightly to the left.

The east elevation displays three bays to the main block, with corniced windows and moulded architraves on the ground floor. Pedimented windows with moulded architraves, friezes, and cast iron balconies are above. Further extensions, one from the early 20th century and another eight-bay section, adjoin the main block to the right.

The west elevation contains a three-bay late 19th century addition that projects forward from the original block, with gabled outer bays and altered window openings.

The north elevation includes a slightly projecting curved bay at the centre of the main block. An entrance, now boarded, has a small window to the left, and a semicircular-headed stair window sits above. Windows are positioned to either side of the curved bay on each floor, with an inserted window to the left of the first-floor window. Further extensions, one from the early 20th century and another from the late 19th century (originally single-storey, as indicated by the cornice above a coursed stugged sandstone ground floor), adjoin the main block.

Predominantly four-pane timber sash and case windows are found on the south and east elevations of the original block, while the rear windows are aluminium. Later 19th and early 20th century extensions incorporate aluminium windows. The roof is covered in grey slates, with a piended roof to the main block. A pair of wallhead stacks with octagonal flues are located on the east and west elevations, currently lacking cans. Decorative cast-iron hoppers, featuring a lion rampant and rose motifs, are attached to the downpipes on the south elevation.

The interior has been extensively altered to serve as a nurses' home, but retains a stone half-turn staircase with landings and a cast iron handrail within the central entrance hall.