Old Gala House, Scott Crescent, Galashiels

Old Gala House is a large, asymmetrical mansion house with a 16th-century core, situated on rising ground to the east and with formal garden grounds. The original structure was a skewed, rectangular-plan bastle built around 1583, located towards the northeast. Subsequent additions occurred throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, creating the U-plan, multi-gabled form seen today. A three-and-a-half storey bastle was built in 1583, featuring blocked and later openings, alongside a 19th-century square stair tower to the north. A five-bay, perpendicular range was added in 1611, with an advanced gabled bay extending to the southeast, forming an L-plan. Around 1632, a three-bay range was constructed to the southwest, completing the rough U-plan. Advanced gabled bays were introduced circa 1830 to the south, east, and west corners, unifying the design.

The house is constructed of mixed rubble, with red and yellow sandstone quoins. Earlier openings have mixture of edge-roll mouldings, chamfered irregular rybats and smooth and chamfered sandstone margins. Later openings feature predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows and multipane glazed 20th century timber doors. The roofs are pitched slate, with overhanging timber bracketed eaves in places, stone skews, and beaked skewputts to the 1830 gables. Chimneys are a mix of rubble and corniced ashlar, gable end, ridge and shouldered wallhead stacks.

The garden (southeast) elevation has three storeys and seven bays, with a lower gabled bay to the right which conceals the 16th-century core at the rear. A projecting gabled bay is positioned off-centre to the right, featuring an advanced narrow crenellated window formation. An advanced gabled and crenellated bay to the left includes a classical doorpiece with obelisk pinnacles. The entrance (southwest) elevation presents two storeys and five bays, with circa 1830 gabled corner bays flanking the 1632 section, which has a remodelled, regular window formation. A prominent, three-storey, rectangular stair tower from 1611 is located in the rear courtyard to the northwest, and incorporates hexagonal corbelled, square crenellated towers and lower lean-to sections.

The interior was refurbished in 1988 for office and museum spaces, but original features remain in the principal rooms. These include a fine polychrome geometric and arabesque painted timber ceiling dating to 1635 on the first floor. The 1583 section retains a large corbel lintelled fireplace, ceiling corbels, and 18th-century fielded panelling (access restricted during the 2006 survey). Decorative plaster ceilings dating circa 1860 depict Persephone and the four ages of a woman in the first-floor drawing room, and a plum tree and fox—symbols of Galashiels— in the staircase and hall. Panelled timber shutters and window surrounds are prevalent throughout. A Jacobean oak chimney piece in the morning room is said to have originated from Mary Queen of Scots House in Jedburgh.

Coped stone rubble boundary walls are present to the south and east. Cast-iron railings run along the west side, while a later low 20th-century concrete block wall borders the west side adjacent to a bowling club.