MERCHANT’S HOUSE

KIRKCALDY CIVIC SOCIETY

Situated at the east end of Kirkcaldy, at 339 - 343 High Street, near the Port Brae, the house was built in the 1590s for a member of the merchant and shipowning family named Law.  

The Scottish Historic Buildings Trust purchased most of the house in 1986 and by 1996 they owned the whole property. The following text is by the Trust....

"With an internal stone spiral stair near the middle of the front (the blocked up windows of which can be seen on the outside wall), the principal (or first) floor comprised a central hall with large fireplace in the middle of the rear wall, a narrow chamber to the west (or south), and a large chamber to the east. The upper floor was divided in a similar way.

 The walls were plastered with lime and the 'ceilings' of the principal floor were the joists and boards of the floor above, painted in patterns of foliage, fruit and geometrical figures. Some of the boards have been lifted and photographed before being relaid and hidden by later work; a sample of the original painting is visible in a cupboard (photograph left).

From the windows on the upper storey the merchant would have been able to see his ships entering the town harbour.

By about 1670, the fashion of fine houses having changed, the interior finish was altered to wood-panelled walls and ceilings of decorative plaster. most of the ceilings, and the frames of the panelling, remain on the first and second floors. The front wallhead was raised and the windows on the top floor increased in size and number. On the first floor the chamber to the west was made wider.

The details shown here are from the east room on the first floor of the house.

Although the building housed more than one family as early as 1700, its stylish character survived. The internal stair was demolished about 1830-40 and the present stair-tower was erected to the rear (photograph,left).

The house became a tenement housing several families, while a bakery occupied part of the ground floor and some buildings in the back yard for most of the years 1838-1940.

Since most of the house was purchased by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust in 1986, repairs have sought to preserve all surviving structural elements of the early house and to restore the lost finishes, including reinstatement of stone tiles on the roof. The front wall has been repaired with stone and lime mortar and lime washed, the chimneys rebuilt and lime-harled.

The Trust purchased the shop at 343 High Street in January 1996 with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A detailed survey of the whole building has been carried out, and the archaeology of the ground floor and the long garden behind has been investigated to gain further insight into the early history of the building, especially the form and possible non-domestic uses of the ground floor.

A future phase of repairs will conserve the internal plasterwork, reinstate wall panelling of the original types on the surviving frames, and repair and clean the original floor boards. It is envisaged that the completed building will be retained by the Trust and leased to an appropriate user.

The project has been made possible by the financial support, in grants and loans, of Historic Scotland, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Architectural Heritage Fund, Fife Enterprise, Fife Regional Council, Kirkcaldy District Council and charitable trusts. The interest and support of local authority members and officials, societies and individuals in Kirkcaldy is also warmly acknowledged."  

The house was officially opened by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (then Chancellor of the Exchequer)

on Friday 30th September 2005

The KCS & Historic Buildings Trust plaque was unveiled by Mr Mark Lena on the 19th June 2007.

Photographs by Anne Mcintyre

Roll your mouse over the photo below to see the restoration of a 17th Century wall painting in the house.