Description

Circa 1865 with later additions. 2-storey 4 bays to E, 3 bays to N. Irregular-plan and asymmetrical Baronial villa with multiple gables and circular tower. Single-storey wing to rear. Squared buff sandstone ashlar, rubble to sides and rear. Base course, partial corbelled eaves course. Hood-moulded entrance. Gabletted dormers.

EAST (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: chamfered corbelled gabled entrance bay to right. Angled corbelled gable to outer right. Advanced wide gable to left with large tripartite windows. Angle stair tower with steep pitched roof of circular plan, rising to octagonal-plan at first floor.

NORTH (GARDEN) ELEVATION: angled bay to outer left. Polygonal full-height window bay to right .

Plate glass in timber sash and case windows. 4-pane timber sash and case windows to garden and rear. Pitched purple slate roofs, alternating green and purple fishscale slates to tower, ashlar skews with pitched skewputts and finials. Cast iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR: good decorative scheme of a variety of periods. Decorative plasterwork cornices. Stone chimneypieces, ingleneuk to ground floor. Timber stair with Arts and Crafts detailed pierced timber balusters and fluted timber pillars. Highly decorative window surrounds and shutters. Billiard room panelled to dado height with decorative door surround and turned timber truss roof.

GARDEN FEATURES AND BOUNDARY WALLS: stone garden steps. Boarded timber summerhouse. Whin rubble boundary walls. Later boundary walls to Hayward Drive.

Statement of Interest

Binniemyre is one of a collection of villas built along the southern stretch of the Abbotsford Road from the 1860s, when wealthy Galaleans began to move away from the town centre, where they had previously lived next to the mills. These houses are closely related to the growth of the textile industry in Galashiels and reflect the wealth of the town through the later 19th century. Binniemyre, more modest than examples such as Abbotshill and Kingsknowes, nonetheless reflects the Baronial style used in many of the houses and has some notable details such as the stair turret. The interior, which appears to have been updated in parts in the late 19th or early 20th century, retains features of both periods, including the impressive billiard room.

The house, originally known as Eildon View, is thought to have been built for John Morrison, tweed merchant, who are also thought to have built the warehouse known as Anderson's Chambers.

It is most likely that the south block, including the billiard room, is slightly later than the rest of the house and date to the late 19th century.

The grounds were originally larger, but were divided by Hayward Drive.

The name of the house is also spelt 'Biniemyre'.

Category changed from B to C(S) 2006.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56633781

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]