Brewery House, Kirkgate, Chirnside

Brewery House, Kirkgate, Chirnside

Brewery House is a late 18th to early 19th century house of 2 storeys arranged in a plain classical style. The main building is rectangular in plan with 3 bays to its front elevation, and has a 2-storey wing at the rear which creates an L-shaped footprint. Various 2-storey and lower additions occupy the rear re-entrant angle, giving the building a complex massed form.

The house is constructed predominantly from harl-pointed sandstone rubble, with squared stone to the front elevation. Pink sandstone dressings are used throughout. The front is articulated by a moulded eaves course and raised quoins, while the sides and rear feature droved quoins. All window and door openings have droved long and short rubble surrounds with slightly raised margins to the front elevation. The rear additions employ harl with sandstone dressings in places.

The south or entrance elevation is the principal front. A timber panelled door is centred at ground floor, set beneath a round-arched surround with a bat-wing fanlight. A single window is aligned above at first floor, with flanking single windows to both floors in the adjacent bays.

The west side elevation displays 6 bays of irregular fenestration. The outer right bay has a single ground floor window with a bullseye window above. The left portion contains single windows at both storeys. Off-set from the centre is another ground floor window, topped by a 4-light canted oriel at first floor. A single storey porch with a shallow-piended roof occupies the penultimate bay, and single windows light both floors of the outer left bay.

The north rear elevation shows a 2-storey wing to the right with an off-set single window at ground floor. A lower 2-storey addition to the left has a centred ground floor window. A chamfered angle (corbelled at upper floor) recesses further to the left, behind which sits a near square-plan block with a stylised crenellated parapet. The original 2-storey block is recessed further to the outer left.

The east side elevation comprises a 2-storey block to the left with a single ground floor window in the right bay and a bullseye window above. An irregularly fenestrated full-height 2-bay addition recesses to the right, also topped with a stylised crenellated parapet. A lower single bay addition slightly further recessed carries single windows at both floors and features a corbelled chamfered angle at upper floor level. A 2-storey gabled addition set at an angle to the outer right has a small off-set ground floor window and a centred first floor window.

Openings throughout feature predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows, with plate glass bullseye openings. The roof is covered in grey slate with a piended profile and red tile ridging. Corniced sandstone ridge stacks flank the centre of the main block, with various circular cans elsewhere. Cast-iron rainwater goods are in place.

The interior retains significant decorative plasterwork. The vestibule ceiling features ornamental plasterwork with a decorative cornice. Timber panelled doors are found throughout. The staircase is a dog-leg design constructed with timber treads, plain timber uprights and timber handrails, with square-plan newels having corniced caps and a balustraded opening at first floor level.

The reception room to the right (formerly the dining room) retains a decorative cornice and features a Corinthian pilastered surround to a shelved alcove. A large basket-arched opening with pilasters leads to the rear (now blocked). The reception room to the left (drawing room) has a round-arched bipartite alcove above the door with pilastered surrounds to the windows and shelved alcove, the capitals decorated with bird motifs. Original fireplaces survive in both rooms. The remainder of the interior was not seen at the time of the 1998 survey.

An ancillary structure to the north is a single storey, 4-bay rectangular-plan building in harl-pointed sandstone rubble, formerly a stable and gig house. Long and short tooled pink sandstone surrounds frame the openings, with brick used in places. A rendered garage block is adjoined to the outer left. The courtyard elevation features a small window in the left bay and boarded timber doors in the remaining bays to the right. A large square-headed opening is cut through the gabled garage block. The stable range roof is covered in grey slate with stone-coped skews, while the garage carries red pantiles. The interior was not inspected in 1998.

A decorative cobbled courtyard with geometric patterns inset in stone occupies the rear of the site.

The property is partially enclosed by rubble-coped rubble walls. A pedestrian entrance is flanked by square-plan coursed sandstone gatepiers with corniced pyramidal caps, and is hung with a spearheaded iron gate.