Gladstone's Land (National Trust for Scotland)

The narrow, six-story stone tenement on the Royal Mile wears a painted seventeenth-century facade that distinguishes it from the surrounding gray masonry. Thomas Gledstanes, a wealthy merchant, purchased the structure in sixteen seventeen and expanded it upward to accommodate his growing family and business interests. While the upper floors served as a lavish residence for elite tenants, the street level held noisy, cramped merchant stalls. These rooms retain the original wooden painted ceilings, a rare survival from a time of intense urban density.