Burgh Chambers And War Memorial, Cornhill Square, Galashiels

Burgh Chambers and the War Memorial form a substantial, asymmetrical burgh building in a Scottish Renaissance style, prominently situated at Cornhill Square, Galashiels. The original section dates to 1867, designed by Robert Hall and Co. Significant additions and alterations were undertaken between 1924 and 1927 by R S Lorimer, incorporating a corbelled tower and extensions to the southwest and northeast to create a triangular footprint. A more recent three-storey, five-bay brick extension to Paton Street was added in 1976 by Aitken and Turnbull.

The original 1867 section presents as a two-storey, four-bay building facing Albert Place (southwest), characterised by segmental arched windows, an advanced crowstepped gable, and a large, hoodmoulded geometric traceried window. Lorimer's extension to the southwest mirrors this design with an advanced crowstepped gable, carved capital French windows to a bracketed balcony, and an architraved doorpiece forming the main entrance. The Paton Street (northeast) elevation is a three-storey, ten-bay design featuring shaped breaking eaves dormers to the left-hand bays, a stone entrance porch and stair window to the re-entrant angle, and a projecting two-bay crowstepped gable to the right.

The building is constructed from a mix of materials. The 1867 section is of coursed ashlar with deep, chamfered surrounds. The southwest and tower sections utilise coursed rubble with smooth recessed rybats and moulded margins, while the northeast section is random rubble with stugged sandstone margins.

The clock tower is a five-stage structure with a corbelled top stage and a pyramidal roof. It features a breaking eaves gothic gabled clock (by W. Potts and Sons, Leeds), bi-partite ventilated windows, arrow slits, and a curved corner stair. At the base of the tower is a recessed double chamfered segmental and pointed arch, topped by a carved figure of Peace by David Sutherland, above a large bronze First World War memorial plaque. Later Second World War memorials are integrated with canted stone hoodmoulds flanking the central arch.

The interior largely reflects a good late Arts and Crafts decorative scheme, predominantly dating to Lorimer’s 1927 extension. The entrance hall features timber-panelled doors, a stone stair, and decorative wrought iron railings. A painted panel depicting the town motto 'sour plums' and a large contemporary mural of Pan by Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936), originally from Melrose, adorn the main stairwell. Timber glazed screens are found in the cloakrooms, and circular brass ram’s head light fittings are present. The main first-floor meeting chamber, dating to 1867, has a piended ribbed ceiling, decorative plaster corbels, panelled woodwork, and shutters. Former police station cells are located in the basement.

The building has predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows, pitched slate roofs, stone crowstepped skews and beaked skewputts, corniced ashlar ridge stacks, plastic gutters, and cast-iron downpipes.