Venlaw Castle Hotel, Edinburgh Road, Peebles

Venlaw Castle Hotel, Edinburgh Road, Peebles

A substantial country house with later baronial additions, constructed in 1782 for Sheriff Stevenson, enlarged in 1854, and substantially remodelled in 1892 for Admiral Sir James Erskine. The building now functions as a hotel, having served as a wartime hospital before its conversion to hospitality use in 1949.

The original structure is a three-storey rectangular-plan house with attic and basement, comprising one to three bays in Gothick style. This was enlarged by the addition of a three-storey Scots Baronial tower house wing to the south with an integral angle stair tower and cap house, together with a later single-storey extension to the north. The walls are finished in buff harling with tabbed ashlar quoins. A projecting moulded base course and eaves course runs below the parapet.

The principal east elevation features a central entrance porch with a piended skew gable, constructed of polished ashlar with a moulded door surround, chamfered arrises and margins. The lintel bears the inscription "J.E fecit 1854". Above the doorway is a stepped hoodmould with scrolled label-tops supporting a moulded heraldic plaque of the Erskine family. The main three-bay Gothick house rises behind, with regularly placed windows to the basement, ground and first floors of the outer bays. The central first-floor window is infilled and inscribed "VENLAW This portion of the house was built by Sheriff Stevenson on the site of Smithfield Castle AD 1782 and was bought by Major Archibald Erskine AD 1798". A wallhead dormer breaks the parapet at centre. Single-bay recessed wings of identical character flank the main house, each with a wallhead dormer. To the right, a single-storey flat-roofed wing adjoins at basement level, featuring paired arched windows to the left (now infilled to the right), with blind openings elsewhere.

To the left of the main house stands the advanced three-storey baronial wing with basement and cap house. A full-height single-bay tower clasps the left angle. The basement contains a small window to the right, above which stands a corbelled bipartite angle bay at ground floor resting on an angle buttress. A central window lights the first floor, with a further window to the right of the second floor. A heavy moulded parapet with a corbelled angle turret to the right partially conceals a crow-stepped cap house with a central gable window. The full-height stair tower to the left angle features three regularly placed windows to the ground floor and a small basement window to the rear. The first and second floors have two misaligned windows, with a band course separating the attic level, which contains three small windows aligned with the ground floor bays. A tall conical roof surmounts the stair tower.

The south elevation shows a three-storey tower house wing with attic and basement across two bays. Ashlar steps with curved wing walls at basement level lead to a later semi-glazed timber door with side lights, with a small window to the left. The ground floor contains a bipartite window to the left and a single window to the right, with a sloped base course leading upward. The first and second floors have smaller windows to the right, aligned vertically, while left-side windows are positioned more centrally. A heavy moulded parapet with a corbelled angle turret to the left partially conceals the gabled nepus of a crow-stepped cap house with central window. The full-height angle tower rises to the right.

The west rear elevation shows the tower house with paired windows to the basement divided by the corbel of a central first-floor canted bay window, the lintel of which is inscribed "JEE 1892 MEC". A window lights the first floor to the left, with two regularly placed bays to the second floor. A moulded parapet with corbelled round angle towers partially conceals a crow-stepped cap house with central gable window. To the centre stands the rear of the earlier two-storey house with attic and basement, featuring a full-height three-light canted bay to the centre with flat single-bay wings adjoining, all with arched windows (paired to the ground floor right). The parapet to the central bay and right is broken by gable-headed attic dormers. A later metal fire escape is attached to the right bays. A much later single-storey flat-roofed wing adjoins to the left, with a blind door to the right and the remainder of the elevation concealed.

The north elevation presents a two-storey house with basement across two bays. A much later single-storey wing conceals the basement level, featuring a timber door to the left and modern garaging to the right. The main house shows paired arched windows to ground and first floors, now blind and harled, with a bar window to the left at ground floor. A gable-headed stack of the original house rises behind the wing.

Windows throughout are predominantly timber sash and case with plate glass glazing, many featuring arched heads. The roof comprises pitched and piended blue-grey slate, with the conical slate roof to the tower topped with a metal finial. The later single-storey wing has a corrugated-metal roof. Lead ridging, flashings and valleys finish the main roofline. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods feature partially concealed gutters. Tall harled gable-head stacks to the earlier house are finished with tabbed quoins, plain ashlar neck copes and tall terracotta cans.

Interior spaces retain considerable period detail. The Library Bar and Lounge features oak panelling with window surrounds and book alcoves, together with a marble and carved timber fire surround. The Dining Room displays an ornate fire surround, timber picture rails, dado panelling beneath windows, and skirtings; the ceiling is corniced plaster and the floor finished in polished parquet. Timber panelled doors throughout most rooms are accompanied by timber window surrounds, some with arched heads.

An important garden terrace designed and laid out by Reverend John Constable in July 1892 lies to the south-west of the house. The terrace follows an almost triangular plan with a canted angle, constructed of coursed whinstone rubble with roll-moulded drip quoins to the front. The rear wall stands higher, with plain drip quoins and an inset moulded plaque inscribed "These Terraces and Grounds were designed & laid out by The Rev. John Constable July 1892 AD." To the east of the house, part of a coursed rubble-walled garden survives, featuring a round angle tower with corbelled parapet at the south-west corner; the interior of the garden now contains a modern dwelling.