Victoria Halls, Scotts Place, Selkirk

Victoria Halls, Scotts Place, Selkirk

Designed by Hippolyte J Blanc in 1895, this is a 2-storey classical public hall with attic, arranged as a 3-bay composition and originally built as a theatre and hall. The building underwent alterations and additions in 1975 (kitchen at ground of north-east) and 1991 (addition at ground of north-west).

The main south-east elevation facing the High Street is faced in red sandstone, squared and snecked with polished ashlar dressings. A pedimented bay projects slightly at the centre, articulated with full-height Ionic pilasters. An open-pedimented portico at ground level features Ionic columns on pedestals, with a 2-leaf panelled and pilaster-ornamented deep-set door beneath a semicircular radial fanlight. The doorway has a keystone, and above it is carved the Selkirk Coat-of-Arms within the pediment. A Venetian window with an oculus tympanum occupies the 1st floor above. Flanking bays contain single windows at ground level and paired windows at 1st floor, separated by an engaged Ionic column and flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature.

The south-west elevation is more complex, composed of nine bays grouped as 3-4-2. The outer 3-bay and central 4-bay groups are harled with red sandstone dressings. The 4-bay central group is slightly set back, with tall segmental-arched windows to each bay having keystones; the outer left window is round-arched with a keystone. A platformed 3-bay group projects to the outer left, with windows positioned near the wallhead. The outer right 2-bay group is faced in red sandstone squared and snecked ashlar with polished dressings, flush long and short quoins, and tails to openings. An advanced pedimented bay to the left contains a 2-leaf panelled door with corniced doorpiece and a small adjacent window at ground; the 1st floor above has paired windows as on the SE elevation. To its right are two ground-floor windows and a Venetian window at 1st floor. A full-height tower rises in the re-entrant angle, featuring windows to the south-east and south-west at ground level, a small window at the 2nd stage, and polished ashlar to the 3rd stage above the entablature with small windows to the south-east, south-west and south.

The north-west elevation has a modern addition. The north-east elevation is harled with red sandstone polished ashlar dressings.

The building incorporates various window types: 12-pane timber sash and case windows at ground of the SE elevation and the 3-bay group to the SW; 10-pane windows to paired windows at 1st floor of the SE and flanking lights of Venetian windows; 8-pane timber sash and case windows at ground of the outer right bay and the tower to the SW; and 24-pane timber sash and case windows to the 4-bay group to the SW.

Roofing comprises a steep-pitched slate piended roof with U-plan to the SE, a slate roof with raised ashlar coped skews to the central hall (4-bay group to SW), and a slightly ogeed slate roof to the tower topped with a cast-iron weathervane. Ashlar coped shouldered wallhead stacks project from the outer bay to the right of the SW and outer bay to the left of the NE elevations.

The building is articulated with classical detail including a base course, moulded string course between ground and 1st floor, an entablature at wallhead above 1st floor with a dentilled cornice, Baroque balustrading to the parapet, and pilaster quoins to the SE.

Interior spaces retain good classical decorative schemes. The entrance vestibule has a 2-leaf door with panelled lower and glazed upper sections, and a semicircular radial fanlight. The panelled hall features a dentilled cornice, egg and dart plasterwork, a mosaic-bordered floor, ornamental cast-iron radiators, and a plaque commemorating the opening of the building by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry on 6th May 1897. A glazed and panelled partition separates the hall from the principal hall.

The principal hall has a parquet floor, boarded dado, and cornice at the spring-point of the coving. A broad entablature to the central broad panelled and ribbed coved ceiling is supported by pilasters corbelled at the dado rail. A balcony to the south-west has a panelled front with a bust of Queen Victoria at its centre, supported on composite-capitalled plaster columns, and retains raked original seating. A later proscenium arch and raked stage to the north-west were added and paid for by the Association of Selkirk Clubs and Societies. Stone steps with wrought-iron balustrades and timber handrails access the NE and SW.

A second hall has a boarded dado and a compartmentalised ceiling with dentilled, egg and dart plasterwork, and a boarded floor.

The attic is used and designed as a caretaker's flat.

The boundary wall is constructed of bull-faced sandstone with moulded coping. Wrought-iron railings are supported on square-plan rendered piers with ball finials.

A fountain, fabricated by the Val d'Osne Foundry in France and sculpted by Hubert Lavigne, stands to the south-west of the hall. It comprises a curvilinear ashlar-coped pond containing a painted cast-iron fountain and bowls surmounted by a draped figure with a grape-laden casket-cum-spout.