50A Kirkhill Road, Penicuik

50 Kirkhill Road in Penicuik is an early 19th century building with additions and alterations made in 1859 by Frederick Thomas Pilkington, along with further changes in 1880. This single-storey, irregularly shaped building was originally a school and schoolhouse, and it is prominently located at the corner of a residential area. The exterior is mainly constructed of stugged ashlar with smooth and droved dressings. The window openings feature stop-chamfered arises, and the window margins on the main elevation are raised.

The principal (south) elevation has a three-bay schoolhouse at the center, flanked by advanced gabled bays. The gabled bay on the right is the original 19th century schoolroom, while the left bay is a later addition to the schoolhouse. The principal schoolroom gable includes a plain apex roundel and a stone finial. The entrance on the left side (50 Kirkhill Road) is topped with a consoled bracketed hoodmould. A double-gabled range extends from the east elevation, creating a recessed L-plan at the southeast corner, which is now rendered. The rear (north) elevation features stepped gabled ranges, with the central range dated 1880. The northwest corner is corbelled out. There is a single-storey outhouse on the west elevation, which is connected to a boundary wall. Decorative carved stone detailing can be seen above the principal windows, featuring round-arched and pointed-arched capitals.

The building has 8 and 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, a graded slate roof with ridge ventilators, pointed stone skews with decorative skewputts, and shouldered and corniced wallhead stacks. The rainwater goods are made of cast iron.

The interior of the former school building was observed in 2015 and includes plain timber panelling up to dado height in the classroom areas, along with timber and glazed classroom doors. Exposed timber roof trusses rest on shaped stone corbels. The principal classroom contains a flat press with a four-panel door, and there is a rear stone stair leading to the basement area. Evidence of earlier timber sash and case windows can still be seen in corridors that have been enclosed by later additions.