53 West High Street, Lauder

53 West High Street in Lauder is a pair of semi-detached cottages dating from the early to earlier 19th century. The building is two storeys with an attic and has lower-height structures attached to the rear. No 55 is double-fronted, while No 53 is single-fronted. The principal southwest elevation features finely coursed whinstone rubble with dressed red sandstone ashlar details, while the rear northeast elevation is constructed of rubble, and the side elevations are harled. There is an early 19th century harled/rubble former cottage attached to the rear of No 55, along with a mid to later 20th century corrugated iron and wood structure at the back of No 53. The main block has quoins and coped gables, with sandstone ashlar architraves around the openings on the principal elevation and projecting cills for the windows.

On the southwest elevation, the central entrance to No 55 has a rectangular fanlight and a plain timber door, flanked by windows on each floor and another window above. No 53 has an entrance with a rectangular fanlight and a two-leaf timber door, with a single window to the left on each floor. The northeast elevation shows the harled gable end of the attached former cottage projecting forward behind No 55, with a first-floor section that jetties out slightly to the left above an angled corner, and a small first-floor window above a large late 20th century sliding door. The rear of No 53 curves slightly inward towards the south gable end and is adjacent to the corrugated iron and wood structure, which also connects to No 2 The Row.

The northwest elevation features a small attic window in the gable of the main block, with a former two-storey cottage attached to the left. This cottage has an entrance with a boarded timber door to the right, a small window above, and a single window to the left on each floor. The southeast elevation has a small first-floor window to the left of the main block, with the corrugated iron and wood structure set back to the right.

The windows are mainly timber sash and case, with four and twelve panes. The roofs are covered with grey slate, and there are flanking gablehead stacks with band courses on the main block, along with a single gablehead stack on the attached former cottage, although the cans are missing. The interiors have not been inspected since 1998.