12 Queen Street, Kirkwall

12 Queen Street in Kirkwall is a pair of houses built around 1840, with some later alterations. The buildings are two stories high with an attic and have an asymmetrical L-shaped layout, forming a small terrace. They feature an eaves course and are finished in painted cement render with a lined texture, while the rear is harled. The openings have painted margins and strip quoins.

On the northwest (principal) elevation, the bays are arranged in a 2-3 grouping. The three-bay section on the right, known as Number 14, has a pilastered and corniced doorpiece in the center bay at ground level, featuring a deep-set timber panelled door with a large fanlight above it. There is a window on the first floor above this door, and additional windows on each floor in the bay to the right. The bay to the left has a bipartite window at ground level and a single window above it on the first floor. The two-bay section on the left, known as Number 12, has a deep-set, part-glazed architraved door in the right bay at ground level, with a window in the left bay on each floor.

The southwest (side) elevation of Number 14 features a two-bay gabled block on the left with windows at both ground and first floors, and an attic window to the right, topped by a gablehead stack. To the right is a three-bay block that is set back, which has a modern door with a light flanking it in the left bay and a window above on the first floor. Each remaining bay has a window at ground level.

The windows throughout are 4-pane timber sash and case, and there are evenly spaced rooflights on the northwest pitch. The roof is covered with concrete tiles, and the building has cement-rendered and lined gablehead and ridge stacks, with rainwater goods made from uPVC and cast iron.

The interiors were not seen during the last inspection in 1998. The property is enclosed by low painted, cement-rendered and lined boundary walls along the northwest elevation, topped with a ridged stone cope, and features decorative cast-iron spear-headed railings with two similar pedestrian gates.