Royal Bank Of Scotland, 53-55 High Street, Linlithgow

The Royal Bank of Scotland, located at 53-55 High Street, Linlithgow, was designed by David Rhind and built in 1859. This is a tall, asymmetrical, two-storey and attic building in the Baronial style, constructed from squared, coursed, and stugged cream sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. A base course is present, along with stepped, moulded string courses at ground level, corbelled above the first-floor windows, and a moulded eaves course. Windows are bipartite and tripartite with stone mullions, and feature roll-moulded reveals. An oriel window has cable moulding.

The north (entrance) elevation is asymmetrical with a prominent circular angle tower projecting to the right. The central three bays are asymmetrical, with three closely-grouped windows at ground level and two windows at the first floor. A round-headed doorpiece with a boarded door is positioned to the outer left, above which sits a corbelled, semi-bowed oriel window with a corbelled eaves course and a stone roof. The roofline is broken by a corbelled angle turret to the left, featuring a narrow window to the east, swept eaves, a conical slate roof with a finial, and a label stop below the turret displaying a ‘DR’ monogram. To the right, three gabled, finialled dormer windows are set in the second bay from the left. Coupled wallhead stacks sit on a curvilinear base, further breaking the elevation.

The angle tower is composed of three stages; a round-headed architraved doorpiece with a fanlit boarded door is present, along with a date and ‘CBS’ monogram above. A stepped string course is positioned above the doorpiece. A single window is located on the left return, followed by a window on the first floor, corbelled above with a row of gargoyles. A narrow window to the west is found on the upper stage, with a corbelled eaves course and a conical slate roof featuring a finial.

The east and west (side) elevations feature crowstepped gables.

The south (rear) elevation is asymmetrical, showcasing a corniced, corbelled, and canted 1-2-1 oriel window to the left at the first floor, and two windows at attic level, each set in crowstepped, chimneyed gables with beak skewputts. A corbelled angle turret to the left has had its conical roof removed. A two-storey wing projects to the right, with a piended slate roof.

Single-storey corniced screen walls with a blocking course flank the entrance, each incorporating round-headed doors.

The windows are predominantly four-pane, plate glass sash and case windows, although the tripartite window at ground level has been updated with 1930s sashes. A grey slate roof tops the building, with sandstone corniced stacks to the gables.

The front is fronted by a low wall with a wrought and cast-iron railing of foliated and thistle panels. Squared piers have low pyramidal caps with gates detailed as railings.