Tweedvale House, Galashiels Road, Walkerburn

Tweedvale House, Galashiels Road, Walkerburn

A 2-storey villa with basement, built circa 1855–1859 as a Scottish Domestic residence for a mill owner. The house underwent internal remodelling by architect F. T. Pilkington in 1868, and a new staircase was installed in 1906. The building is asymmetrical in plan with multiple gables and remains substantially intact, though with documented later alterations and additions.

The exterior is harled and painted with a sandstone base course, angle margins and moulded eaves cornice. Windows include polished and droved sandstone details, with 3-light canted bows and plain margined windows featuring chamfered arrises; some retain stone mullions. A skew gable, pitched roof with projecting moulded putts completes the composition.

The principal south elevation comprises three bays with a later central single-storey sandstone entrance porch featuring a bipartite window to its face and a 2-leaf timber panelled door. The door surround is architraved timber with a 5-light geometric rectangular fanlight to the right return, and a round brass bell push stands to the right of the door. The porch is topped with a moulded cornice, low parapet and gablet coping. To the right, a tripartite window with stone mullions (wide central light with narrow sidelights) lights the interior. To the left projects a gable end housing a 2-storey, 3-sided canted sandstone bay window with base, band and eaves course; the upper bay was added when the porch was inserted. A slit window serves the attic level. Pitched stone wallhead dormers with painted gables and moulded putts occupy the centre and right of the first floor.

The west elevation is more complex, reflecting the building's evolution. The former L-plan arrangement to the centre and right features a single-storey gabled extension and wall to the left, now enclosing a courtyard with single-storey lean-tos within. The projecting main house to the right contains a large central ground-floor window with a smaller aligned first-floor window above. A gable end to the left return displays a harled lean-to with a central ground-floor door and central first-floor window of the main house. At the centre, the main house presents a central semi-glazed lean-to porch (concealing a former entrance), small window to the left, and a large staircase window to the first floor right, flanked by smaller windows to the centre and left. A high single-storey gabled extension adjoins the ground floor to the left, partially obscuring a window; this extension has a bipartite window in its right return with a wall extending from its south-west angle.

The north (rear) elevation is nearly blank, with the rear of the single-storey courtyard extension to the right, the 2-storey gable of the main house at centre with a ground-floor window to the right, and the blind return of the east gable to the left.

The east elevation is symmetrical, featuring a slightly projecting bay at ground-floor centre with a central window flanked by narrow lights, surmounted by a lean-to style roof. The recessed first floor above contains a stone gabled wallhead dormer and a small window to the right. Flanking this central bay are projecting gable ends, each with central windows to both storeys and a slit window to the gablehead.

Windows are predominantly 2 and 4-pane timber sash and case, though 12-pane examples serve the wallhead dormers of the principal and east elevations; utility rooms retain 6-pane sashes. The pitched slate roof is topped with stone ridging, lead flashing and valleys. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods include squared down pipes with matching brackets featuring trefoil details and decorative square moulded hoppers on the principal and west elevations; some lesser elevations have replacement round gutters. Harled and painted roofline stacks with sandstone angle margins and neck copes rise in groups of 3 and 4.

Interior details include an entrance hall with oak panelled walls and ceiling, and a semi-glazed inner door designed by Pilkington. A pine staircase installed in 1906 features a decorative Florentine rose wrought-iron balustrade made by Florence and a brass handrail. Much original joinery survives, including working shutters, skirting boards, timber-panelled doors and classical-style timber fire surrounds (notably the dining room pine doorcase which matches its mantel). Plasterwork and ceiling roses were executed by Grandison of Peebles. Brass door furniture and light switches remain throughout. An oak-panelled former gun room adjoins the sitting room. The basement contains an original stone wine cellar with stone bins, designed to accommodate 1000 bottles.