The Lodberry, 20 Commercial Street, Lerwick

This is a strikingly picturesque complex of a house and associated stores, dating from the later 18th century, with subsequent alterations. The buildings are built on a lodberry, a natural rocky outcrop, and comprise several ranges arranged around a small flagged courtyard at the north end.

The former shop fronts onto Commercial Street and is a single-storey, three-bay range, rebuilt around 1950 using concrete blocks. It has a central doorway, a narrow window to the left, and a wide window to the right. The western gable has a window at upper floor, with stone steps and a rubble wall leading down to Bain’s Beach and a western sea door. The eastern gable features a window at upper floor and a timber gate incorporating a ship’s wheel, providing access to stone steps from Commercial Street to a basement entrance with a vertically-boarded timber door.

The house itself is a two-storey, three-bay building connected at a right angle to the rear. Its eastern elevation has an entrance door offset to the left of centre and windows in the outer bays at both ground and first floors. A high rubble wall fronts the basement bay to the right and encloses the flagged yard. A segmental-arched sea door is located in the wall at the outer right, with a timber hoist projecting above. The north gable has a basement door and a first-floor window; a small louvered opening is in the gablehead. A slated rubble lean-to extends from the basement on the left, with a door in the eastern wall. The western wall is open at ground level, with a flying buttress supporting the roof, connecting to a former fishcuring shed.

The former sail loft and store, to the west, has a small basement window and a blank north wall. The gablehead features timber boarding and a three-pane fixed-light window. A main sea door with timber infill is also present.

The curing shed and store, at the northeastern corner, has a three-bay north (seaward) elevation with a single basement window and rubble-infilled openings in the upper floor bays. The western elevation has a four-panel door to the right. Tall openings with timber louvres flank the centre of the gables at upper floor, and a stack rises from the western gable.

A variety of plate glass and two and three-pane timber windows are visible, the latter with hoppers. The roof is covered in purple-grey slate with cast-iron gutters and downpipes. Stugged sandstone stacks, topped with circular cans, are present on the house. Concrete skew copes define the edges of the house and the Commercial Street range.

A random rubble wall with a stugged sandstone cope runs along the east and west sides of the house, defining Craigie Stane and Bain’s Beach. A partially flagged noost (a small area for drying fish) exists at Craigie Stane, enclosed by a concrete-coped rubble wall.

Inside, the parlour features a basket-arched buffet recess with flanking fielded-panel doors, and the basement has flagged floors.