Located on the southern margin of Prestonpans, at the centre of the old village of Preston is Hamilton House, built 1626 for Sir John Hamilton, brother of Thomas Hamilton (1563 - 1637), the 1st Earl of Haddington. Sometimes called Lord Magdalen's House after the Hamilton law lord of that name, this two-storey house, which boasts crow-step gables, is of double L-plan format forming three sides of a courtyard. Set in each corner of the courtyard is a turret; on the right side an octagonal stair-turret incorporating the entrance and on the left a small round turret set at first-floor level. Above the door is the inscription 'Praised be the Lord My Strenth and My Redeimer'. During the 1960s, the woodwork of the dormer windows was decorated in the style of the tempera work of the nearby Northfield House.
Hamilton House was purchased by the National Trust for Scotland in 1937 and subsequently restored.
