Cowan Institute, 33 High Street, Penicuik

The Cowan Institute, located at 33 High Street, Penicuik, is a former institute built in 1893 to the designs of Campbell Douglas & Morrison in a Scots Renaissance style. It is a two-storey building with a basement and attic, arranged in a rectangular plan with six bays. The exterior is constructed of stugged, squared, and snecked pink sandstone with roll-moulded polished dressings to the main elevation and chamfered droved dressings elsewhere. Features include a base course, a dividing band course, projecting cills, a moulded eaves course, and crowstepped gables.

The northwest (principal) elevation is asymmetrical. A zig-zag carved dividing band course, decorated with carved thistles, roses, and shamrock, runs between the ground and first floors. The central bay from the right contains an ogee-arched doorway with a two-leaf panelled timber door and a three-light fanlight. Further windows are arranged to the right, with regular fenestration on the first floor, interrupted by a broken pediment above the third window from the right and carved strapwork panels flanking the two windows to its right. Two pedimented dormers are present on the attic floor. A four-leaf panelled timber door is set into the penultimate bay from the left, above a tooled Scottish heraldic panel flanked by two small stained glass windows. Other windows between the ground and first floors include a tooled panel reading “AD 1893” above one and a broken pediment above another. A tripartite window tops the doorway, with three strapwork pediments, and is accompanied by a balustraded balcony with crests of Scotland, England, and Ireland. A bipartite window sits within the gablehead. An ogee-roofed, octagonal tower with louvred round-arched openings and a projecting clock (added in 1901 on ironwork brackets) rises from the center of the attic floor.

The southwest elevation is also asymmetrical, featuring four bays with a three-bay addition to the right. Regular fenestration is present on the ground and first floors of the three bays to the left, while an irregular fenestration and a doorway to the basement are visible. A bipartite window is set into the ground floor of the central bay, with a single window above. Round-arched windows are positioned on the ground floor of the three bays to the right and there are two windows to the first floor of the third bay from the right.

The southeast elevation was not inspected in 1999.

The northeast elevation is asymmetrical, with five bays and a three-bay addition to the left. A gabled bay features a tall window with a broken pediment and a window set into the gablehead. Regular fenestration is found on the first four bays to the left, while the remainder display irregular openings.

The windows are predominantly six-pane timber sash and case. The roof is covered in grey slate, with cast-iron rainwater goods. Coped gablehead and ridge stacks are topped with circular cans.

The interior was not inspected in 1999.