Janet Courtney Hostel, Gressy Loan, Lerwick

The Janet Courtney Hostel, designed by James Shearer of Dunfermline in 1939, is a 3-storey building with a partially-exposed basement. This 9-bay International Modern hostel features an asymmetrical flat roof and includes a central stair tower that breaks the eaves, with a 5-bay elevation that partially overlaps on the left and a recessed 3-bay elevation on the right. The walls are roughcast over a base of stugged squared and snecked sandstone, with painted concrete dressings. There are cill and lintel courses at the basement level and an eaves course, with projecting cills at the windows.

On the northeast principal elevation, the stair tower is positioned to the right of center and features a full-height 14-light mullioned and transomed stair window, topped with a relief of the burgh arms and flanked by engaged finials. The 5-bay elevation to the right is regularly fenestrated and advanced, with a door located in the outer left bay. The recessed 3-bay elevation to the right of the tower has regular fenestration, with the basement concealed. It also includes a horizontally-boarded and studded 2-leaf timber entrance door, accompanied by a cantilevered concrete canopy at the principal floor next to the tower.

The southeast elevation is asymmetrical with 3 bays, featuring a 2-storey canted bay at the basement and ground levels on the right. This bay includes a basement window at the center face, a 3-light window at the principal floor, and a parapet adorned with stylized urns above. The fenestration is regular above and in the center bay, although obscured at ground level by a modern addition, while the left bay is blank.

The southwest rear elevation is irregularly composed and fenestrated, with a 2-storey, 10-bay service building advanced on the left and a modern single-storey infill on the right.

The hostel features timber windows, primarily with 8 and 6 panes and casements, along with 4-pane fixed lights in the stair tower. The terrace is bordered by stugged squared and snecked sandstone walls that match the basement, topped with a concrete coping and a galvanised steel railing.