Hay Lodge, Old Town, Peebles

Hay Lodge is a large, two-storey and basement villa with an attic, dating to circa 1770 and with early 19th-century additions. The house is built on a sloping site falling to the south and is harled, with cream sandstone ashlar dressings.

The west-facing elevation, the main entrance front, has five bays and a half-sunk basement, displaying regular fenestration. The three bays to the right are symmetrical; at the centre, steps with a flat arch oversail the basement area leading to a panelled door, above which is a four-pane rectangular fanlight and consoled cornice. A pair of dormers are located above. The two later bays to the right are slightly advanced and feature a blocking course and a single dormer.

The south elevation has three full storeys and an attic. A three-bay, full-height bow is on the left, featuring a single central window to the basement and three windows to each upper floor, topped with a flat roof and a bipartite dormer. Two irregular bays are set back to the right, with an extended wallhead.

The east elevation also has three full storeys and an attic. Four irregular bays are set back to the left; the right bay contains a door at ground level, windows above, and a dormer. The centre right and left bays have windows on all floors (blind at ground to the left), while the centre left bay has a basement window only and a wallhead stack. A projecting, two-storey, two-bay gable is on the right, with a window at ground level to the left and windows to both floors on the right. A later flue for a boilerhouse is applied at the centre.

The north-facing rear elevation is mostly blank, with four bays. The basement has a small door and a blocked window. Steps oversail the basement area to a service door at centre left. A centre right bay has windows at ground and first floor levels, along with a wallhead stack. Dormers are present in the other bays, with the centre left dormer abutting the stack.

The windows are 12-pane timber sash and case, with 4-pane glazing to the dormers. The roof is covered in purple-grey slates with leaded platforms; ashlar coped skews are on the east side. Stacks have ashlar dressings and cornices, largely rebuilt with brick on the east side.

The interior features a narrow hall with a cantilever staircase at the end, an egg and dart cornice, a foliate ceiling rose, and turned mahogany balusters and rail (partly boxed in). The bow Drawing Room to the south has dado panelling, a chair rail with a Vitruvian scroll, an elaborate dentil cornice, and a neo-classical timber chimneypiece with slender flanking consoles framing a Carrara marble fire surround with an egg and dart white marble fillet. A six-panel door is framed by a spectacular doorpiece, which includes acanthus leaf consoles with carved fruit panels, a florid neo-classical frieze of urns, swags, and flowers, and a swan-necked pediment embellished with a basket of flowers on a central pedestal. The former Dining Room to the north has dado panelling, a cornice, a basket-arched recess (now containing a built-in press), and a plain fluted timber chimneypiece with a grey marble fillet.

Extensive rubble boundary walls with ashlar coping, partly harled, enclose the property. A single square gatepier survives at the road. At the northeast corner, a blind round-headed window with a keystone and imposts is located, and above sits a horizontal blind vesica. A small store is entered from the south, and a carriage arch is at the southeast corner.