Town Hall, High Street, Hawick

Built in 1884-6 to plans by James Campbell Walker as a 3-storey, irregular-plan, Scottish Baronial Town Hall on corner site on the high street of Hawick. It has finialled, pedimented dormers, crowstepped gables and a prominent, 4-stage, pyramidal-roofed corner tower with finialled, conical-roofed bartizans. It is built in sandstone ashlar and it has a 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.

(See Statement of Special Interest for legal exclusions.)

Principal (High Street) Elevation: A 4-bay elevation with the tower to the right. It has a recessed door in a round-arched architrave to the left bay and similar arched section over the window on the right. The first floor has a slightly projecting tripartite central window at 1st floor with crest above, flanked by bipartite windows with shallow, corbelled, balustraded balconies and a canted window on the tower to the right.

Side (Cross Wynd) Elevation: Roughly 8 bays on steeply sloping site, with facade stepping out and up towards rear (east). 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 crenullated parapet to left and lower single storey section to the far right.

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 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 and timber-beamed ceiling. Former Police Court with panelled detailing to central, ridge-roofed skylight. Galleried principal function room with slender cast-iron columns. 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.