Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Memorial Museum, 2-4 Moodie Street, Dunfermline

Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Memorial Museum

This complex comprises the original birthplace cottage and an adjacent property, probably dating from the late 18th century with later alterations, together with a substantial memorial building added between 1925 and 1928 by architect James Shearer.

The original cottages form a pair of single-storey structures with attic accommodation, arranged with mirrored plans along Moodie Street on a north-south orientation. The northern cottage was Andrew Carnegie's birthplace; the southern cottage has been converted to serve as the museum entrance hall. Both have catslide dormers. The memorial building, which adjoins to the south via a single-storey linking passage, is a more substantial structure with basement and attic sections. Its main hall, orientated east-west, is a 3-bay composition designed in 17th-century Scottish baronial style, featuring finialled crowstepped gables and pedimented clerestory dormers.

Materials and construction vary across the complex. The original cottages display coursed droved sandstone on their principal west elevation facing Moodie Street, with rubble to the rear east elevation and harled treatment to the north and south sides, all with ashlar dressings. The memorial building is constructed in coursed slightly rockfaced sandstone with lightly droved ashlar dressings. Eaves cornices and architraved openings feature on the principal elevations of the cottages, while the memorial building incorporates a base course and eaves banding. Coped gables are used throughout.

The west elevation, built into sloping ground, presents the principal facades of both the cottages and memorial building to Moodie Street. The cottage entrances occupy central bays, each with a 6-panel timber door and rectangular fanlight with patterned glazing; the entrance to No 2 Moodie Street retains its footscraper recess. Windows flank these entrances, with catslide dormers above (the right-hand window has been rebuilt). A single-storey linking passage connects to the memorial building's main section, set back to the right, with paired windows. Above rises the crowstepped gable of the main hall, which features a central window beneath an open-topped pediment carved with saltire and harp motifs. The lintel below is inscribed with the dates 1835-1919, marking Andrew Carnegie's lifespan. A porch with a Dutch gable adjoins the linking passage, incorporating a large round-arched entrance with moulded reveal. The gable panel above displays a spinning wheel and thistle, with the inscription "the gods send bread for a web begun".

The south elevation is dominated by the main hall of the memorial building. A projecting ground floor and basement (the south aisle) features a crenellated parapet, with a slightly projecting central bay flanked by short posts above the parapet line. A large 6-light mullioned and transomed window occupies the central bay at ground floor level. Bas-relief panels to either side depict "Discovery" (left) and "Industry" (right). The basement incorporates a window to the left bay. Above, the clerestory is set back, with pedimented dormers to each bay, each topped with a crest; the central dormer incorporates the initials "A C". A porch set back slightly to the left contains a large round-arched entrance with moulded reveals, while a segmental-headed entrance to the right features wrought iron gates with a recessed, partially glazed, panelled timber door. Inscriptions on the porch record: "This building in loving memory of Andrew Carnegie is the gift of his wife Louise Whitfield Carnegie to his native town" and "The first sod of this building was turned here June 25th 1925 by Margaret Carnegie Miller, daughter of Mr and Mrs Andrew Carnegie". To the outer right, a lower single-storey and attic section is set back, comprising two bays with ground floor windows and finialled pedimented dormers to the first floor.

The east elevation features a gabled section to the left with a ground floor window to the right of centre and a small central attic window; two windows occupy the first floor. To the right, a bay set at a slight angle contains a ground floor window and a pedimented dormer with thistle finial.

The north elevation (to Priory Lane) again centers on the main hall of the memorial building. Like the south side, it features a projecting ground floor and basement (the north aisle) with crenellated parapet and a slightly projecting central bay; the large 6-light mullioned and transomed window at ground floor level incorporates the initials "A C" at its head. Bas-relief panels to flanking bays, both incorporating wreaths, flank the central section; that to the right is entitled "Peace". The clerestory is set back above, with pedimented dormers to each bay, each with a crest; the central dormer incorporates the names "Margaret Morrison" and "William Carnegie". A lower-height section adjoins almost at right angles to the left, with the first floor at road level on this side and an irregular gable, stepped to the right. Entrances with moulded surrounds and timber doors occur to the right of centre and to the right return; windows are positioned to the left of both openings. A further window occupies a higher level to the left. The gable end of the original cottages projects to the outer right, displaying a pair of attic windows and a ground floor window to the rear of the cottages. An inserted entrance with a late 20th-century timber door and narrow window appears to the left, with a single window to the adjoining linking passage further left.

Windows throughout are predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case design to the original cottages and memorial building, with multi-pane casements to the large mullioned and transomed windows of the main hall. The original cottages retain a red pantile roof, while the memorial building is covered in grey slate. Corniced gablehead stacks mark either end of the original cottage block, with a pair of coped gablehead stacks to the memorial building (one on the east side, one at the east of the north elevation). A coped mid-pitch stack sits to the east of the memorial building, all with round cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods throughout, with decorative embossed rainwater heads to either side of the main hall.

The interior of No 2 Moodie Street remains intact, preserving its original plan, staircase, and internal doors. The adjacent cottage's interior has been entirely remodelled to function as the museum entrance hall; a bolection-moulded fireplace surround dates from the memorial building's construction. The main hall of the memorial building features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with clerestory windows and lower-height round-arched arcading to the aisles, which are subdivided into separate spaces with coffered ceilings.

The site includes boundary walls and railings. An enclosed terrace to the west of the memorial building comprises coursed slightly rockfaced sandstone with low coped retaining walls, a balustrade at the centre, and a pair of wrought iron gates with scrollwork detailing at the north end. Along Priory Lane to the north of the main hall, a low coped wall is surmounted by wrought iron railings featuring decorative panels incorporating scrolls and thistle motifs.