☰John Knox House

John Knox House juts out into the High Street at the foot of the Royal Mile with its painted timber upper storeys — one of the oldest domestic buildings in Edinburgh, dating to the 15th century, and preserved largely because of its association with the Protestant reformer. Knox may or may not have actually lived here in the 1560s; the historical record is ambiguous. The museum inside covers his life and the Scottish Reformation he led, with original artefacts and reconstructed interiors. The building itself, with its external staircase and timber galleries, is a rare example of pre-fire Edinburgh domestic architecture.