Ivy Cottage, Main Street, North Queensferry

Ivy Cottage is an early 18th-century house, with later additions and alterations designed by Watson Burnett Architects in 1990. It is linked to a single-storey former stable, now forming a substantial dwelling house of an irregular plan with gable ends facing the street. The house is constructed of harled and painted rubble, with painted margins and stone cills.

The east, or principal, elevation shows the house to the left. The entrance is now sunk below road level. A late 20th-century timber-framed glazed door and window are at ground floor level, with two windows of unequal size above. A projecting lean-to is to the right of the door, featuring a central square window, and a window to the left return. A timber-boarded gate opening leads down to the principal entrance, set back in a modern link. The former stable is to the right, with a timber panel door to the left and a tall window to the right, plus two windows to the left return.

The north elevation is a plain wall head.

The west, or shore, elevation presents the house to the right, with two ground floor windows and two 1st-floor windows centrally placed. A central modern glazed link connects to the former stable, which is two storeys high to the west, with a central 1st-floor window. A projecting asymmetrical gable end faces the shore, and a tall, broad chimneystack is to the right of the gable.

The south elevation has a ground floor window at street level and a 1st-floor window above. A sloping gable wall has a moulded skewputt on the far right, a remnant of a former projecting lean-to structure facing east.

The windows are predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case. The house has pitched roofs with pantiles and easing slates, while the lean-to and former stables have grey slates. Raised ashlar coped skews and beaked and moulded skewputts are present, along with coped gablehead stacks to the house.

Inside, the sitting room retains an original stone fireplace.

Despite its complicated plan and elevation, Ivy Cottage is a versatile adaptation of smaller buildings into a larger dwelling. The modern link, designed by Watson Burnett Architects, is not visible from the Main Street. Ivy Cottage is an integral part of the 18th-century village townscape. Earlier photographs show evidence of blocked openings on the right side of the south elevation. The statutory address is 18 Main Street, North Queensferry. The building is referenced in the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (1856) and in the publication Historic North Queensferry and Peninsula (2000).