Construction of flats at the old St Andrews police station has been arrested.
A Scottish Government-appointed reporter threw out an appeal for planning permission to demolish the North Street building and erect 17 apartments.
Sinead Lynch concluded the rear of two blocks proposed would be too high compared with neighbouring buildings.
In her determination, she said: “I do not consider that the south-built element of the proposal would enhance the character or appearance of the St Andrews conservation appeal.”
She said its scale and massing “would harm the character and appearance of the conservation area to an unacceptable degree”.
Fife Council’s north-east planning committee had earlier refused planning permission.
The 1930s police station would have been replaced with a building Ms Lynch reckoned would have been appropriate for the medieval streetscape.
However, the building on the station car park behind would, she said, have been two storeys higher than adjacent buildings in Johnston Court and Culross Court.
Objectors, including the town’s community council and St Andrews Preservation Trust, had voiced concerns about over-development and insufficient off-street parking.