No. 33, Palace Street

No. 33 Palace Street is a late 18th-century town house in Berwick upon Tweed, constructed of finely dressed stone ashlar on the front elevation with a rendered rear and pantile roof.

The building is single pile with two storeys plus an attic, arranged as a two-bay front with a single-bay rear outshut. The ground floor originally contained a side through-passage with a winder stair to the rear. The front door is offset to the far right (south), a 6-panel door with a rectangular overlight featuring margin glazing. Windows throughout are 6-over-6 hornless sashes. The front elevation is detailed with a low plinth, first-floor cill band, and dentilated eaves cornice. Two large 20th-century dormers pierce the roof; these are not of special interest and almost certainly replaced and enlarged original dormers or roof lights. Tall rendered stacks stand to the left abutting the neighbouring house, with a second stack downslope serving the outshut.

The rear elevation features a tall, large 4-over-4 horned sash stair window. Other rear windows are modern replacements, including a ground-floor window inserted where the back door to the through-passage formerly stood, now lighting a downstairs toilet.

Internally, the ground-floor front parlour retains panelled window shutters and soffit, with a bed alcove backing onto the entrance passage and an original plaster cornice. A simple closed-string stair with stick balusters and tall grip handrail provides access; a winder stair with tight dogleg leads to the attic. The first-floor front left room (the best drawing room) displays enriched joinery with a 18th-century fire surround and mantelpiece, 6-panelled cupboard door to the left and basket-arched alcove to the right, original corniced ceiling, and panelled window shutters and soffit. The first-floor front right room (now a bathroom) retains panelled window shutters and cornice. The first-floor outshut (now a bedroom) contains a 6-panelled door, narrow panelled cupboard door, and cornice. Both attic rooms retain original panelled doors of two large panels. The roof structure is mainly concealed but appears to be a common rafter roof of Baltic pine with pegged joints and carpenters' marks.

The house first appears on Fuller's map of 1799, with the site shown as undeveloped on Armstrong's 1769 map. The 1855 Ordnance Survey town plan suggests the outshut originally formed part of a separate rear house, though the current footprint was established by the 1898 Ordnance Survey map. The surviving period features clearly demonstrate the hierarchy of late 18th-century domestic space, with a ground-floor parlour with sleeping alcove and the best drawing room positioned above.