Heron House, Helen Place, North Queensferry

Heron House is an 18th-century house, with alterations made in the 20th century. Originally a smoke-house, it is a single-storey and attic, square-plan building with two bays. It is constructed of random rubble with harl pointing, which is painted on the east side and rendered on the north side, with painted margins.

The south elevation, which is the principal facade, features two ground-floor windows and two flat-roofed box dormers that break the eaves. The east elevation is a plain gable. The north (rear) elevation has a modern timber lean-to porch on the left and a window to the right. Another flat-roofed box dormer breaks the eaves above a ground floor window. The west elevation abuts Helen Cottage, which is listed separately.

The windows on the ground floor are timber sash and case windows with four panes. The dormer windows have plate glass. A modern window and door are situated in the porch. The roof is pitched and covered in pantiles. The east gable has a raised ashlar coping, a rendered coped gablehead with clay cans.

The building was previously known as Herring House, and the name “Heron” is likely a corruption of “herring,” reflecting its original use for smoking and storing fish. During the first half of the 20th century, the ground floor window openings were altered, and small square windows on the first floor were blocked. Breaking-eaves dormers were added later, in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Heron House is part of an 18th-century grouping of single and multi-storey dwellings forming a large U-shaped arrangement from No. 4 Post Office Lane to No. 1 Helen Place, formerly known as Chapel Place.