Douglas Hotel, 49-57 Channel Street, Galashiels

The Douglas Hotel, located at 49-57 Channel Street in Galashiels, was designed by J and J Hall around 1890. This former hotel, now used for commercial and residential purposes, is a three-storey building with an attic and features five bays facing Channel Street, including a canted corner bay, and three bays facing Douglas Bridge. The structure has a rectangular plan and is constructed from squared and snecked buff sandstone, with red sandstone dressings. It showcases French Renaissance roof details, including prominent mansard towers adorned with cast iron brattishing, a pedimented timber-fronted dormer, and recessed canted bays. The building has a base course and a ground floor string course, along with first and second floor sill courses. The windows are set in raised ashlar surrounds.

On the Channel Street elevation, the design is symmetrical, with a slightly advanced central bay featuring a mansard roof tower and both bipartite and tripartite window openings. The central entrance is pilastered and corniced, with segmental-headed wide openings on the ground floor and full-height recessed canted windows in the outer bays.

The Douglas Bridge elevation includes arched openings on the ground floor, with regular fenestration above and a pedimented wallhead stack. The building predominantly features timber sash and case windows, along with plate-glass and four-pane windows. The roofs are covered with purple slate, and there are wallhead stacks.

Access to the interior was not possible during the resurvey in 2005, but a mosaic floor in the stair hall displaying the Galashiels crest indicates that other significant features may still be present.