Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Built 1884-6 to plans by James Campbell Walker, with later additions. 3-storey, irregular-plan, Scottish Baronial town hall on corner site, with finialled, pedimented dormers, crowstepped gables and prominent, 4-stage, pyramidal-roofed corner tower with finialled, conical-roofed bartizans; two plain, later blocks to left, now internally connected. Yellow sandstone ashlar. Base course; stepped string course forming 2nd-floor cills; continuous 2nd-floor hoodmoulds; stepped string course, clock faces with prominent voussoirs, louvred, pedimented dormers, and louvred vents halfway up roof to each side of upper stage of tower. Weathervane to roof of tower.

PRINCIPAL (HIGH STREET) ELEVATION: 4-bay principal section to right, with 3 steps to recessed door in round-arched architrave to left bay; slightly projecting, tripartite central window at 1st floor with crest above, flanked by bipartite windows with shallow, corbelled, balustraded balconies; canted window at 1st floor of tower to right. Lower, 6-bay extension to left (arranged 3-3), with round-arched openings at ground floor, rectangular windows above, and deep parapet broken by pedimented dormer offset to right.

SIDE (CROSS WYND) ELEVATION: Roughly 8 bays on steeply sloping site, with facade stepping out and up towards rear. Pedimented wallhead dormer to 2nd bay from left; 1st-floor bartizan in re-entrant angle between 2nd and 3rd bays; gabletted dormer with overhanging eaves to 3rd bay; 4 storeys to gabled 5th bay; 4-storey, conical-roofed, circular tower to 7th bay. Irregularly fenestrated to ridge-roofed section to outer right, with crenellated parapet to left.

Plate glass and multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof with metal ridges; fish scale slates to bartizans.

INTERIOR: Glazed ceramic wall tiling to entrance lobby. Central stone stair with elaborate, swirling, foliate-patterned, wrought-iron balustrade and polished timber handrail. Various secondary stone stairs, some with simple metal balustrades and timber handrails. Council Chamber with highly ornate timber chimneypiece bearing Hawick coat of arms; matching furniture; timber-beamed ceiling. Former Police Court with panelled detailing to central, ridge-roofed skylight. Galleried principal function room with slender cast-iron columns (see NOTES). 6-panel timber doors and half-glazed, timber-panelled doors with stained glass in principal public areas; 4-panel timber doors in office areas. Some tongue-and-groove panelling to dado height.

44 HIGH STREET: 3-storey and attic, ridge-roofed tenement and shop, with 9 bays to ground floor, 4 bays above, and 2 canted dormers. Painted, tooled ashlar with raised, painted, polished dressings. Base course; plain fascia; eaves course. Arcaded, plain-pilastered ground floor, with door to 2nd bay from right and pend entrance with rectangular fanlight to outer left. Regular fenestration to upper floors, with raised ashlar margins and projecting cills.

Fixed plate glass to ground floor; 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows above. Grey slate roof with metal ridge. Coped sandstone ashlar stack

Statement of Special Interest

An outstanding late-19th-century Scottish Baronial town hall, situated on a prominent corner site at the centre of Hawick's High Street and with a tower that has a commanding presence over the whole town.

James Campbell Walker (1821-88) was an Edinburgh architect who trained in the office of the highly prominent architect William Burn (1789-70) and his successor David Bryce (1803-76), setting up practice on his own account in 1856/7. He won the commission for Hawick Town Hall in a competition of 1883, and his plans were executed by builders John & William Marshall at a cost of £16,000. Like Dunfermline Town Hall - a commission Campbell had secured in a competition of 1875 - Hawick Town Hall is in a Franco-Scottish style which is strongly reminiscent of Bryce's work.

The principal function room has a false ceiling concealing the original plasterwork of the basket-arched roof, which is still visible from the stage. The building originally housed a police station as well as municipal offices; the cells remain along a corridor towards the rear. The lesser function hall was added at the rear in the 1950s or 1960s. List description revised and category changed from B to A following resurvey (2008).

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.