Tontine Hotel, High Street, Peebles

The Tontine Hotel, located on High Street in Peebles, was built in 1808 and is a two-storey building with a basement and five bays. Originally designed in an L-plan, it features a bow-ended projection and a large modern addition at the rear. The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked whinstone rubble, which is whitewashed at the front, with grey sandstone droved ashlar dressings that are painted black on the front. The building has a base course that conceals the basement windows, a banded cill course at the ground floor, and raised quoins and an eaves band.

On the north (front) elevation, the slightly projecting centre bay has a doorway at the ground floor that is accessed by steps. This doorway is flanked by narrow sidelights framed by shallow paired pilasters, topped with a stained glass fanlight featuring the arms of Peebles. Above the doorway is a large projecting metal canopy with ornamental brackets and a glazed panel inscribed with 'Tontine Hotel'. The first floor has a tripartite window with narrow blank sidelights, and there is a blocking course with a tablet above. The flanking bays have regular fenestration, and there are two bipartite gabled dormers along with a modern box dormer in the centre. To the outer right, there is a later lower addition.

The south (rear) elevation features a full-height bow-ended projection on the right side, which includes tall round-arched windows with intersecting astragals on the first floor. There are later additions to the right, with rubble at the ground level and brick at the first floor. A large modern addition connects to the west wall via a glazed link.

The interior of the hotel is notable, particularly the bow-fronted former ballroom located on the first floor, which now serves as a dining room. This space features an Adam-style fireplace and decorative plasterwork on the coved ceiling, along with a gallery that has ornamental iron railings and slender columns. The windows throughout the building are 12-pane timber sash and case, and the roof is covered with slate, featuring two apex stacks.