Description

Michael Brodie, dated 1885, with later additions. 3-storey and attic former department store (now internally subdivided at ground floor), comprising 7-bay, French Renaissance principal block to right (Nos 65-67); later 4-bay, platform-roofed block to left (No 63). Tooled, squared, coursed yellow sandstone with polished ashlar dressings to upper floors of principal block; polished yellow sandstone ashlar to upper floors of left block; late-20th-century shopfronts; rendered to rear.

65-67 HIGH STREET: Central lobby shared by flanking shops at ground floor; central canted oriel with pendants at 2nd floor, crowned by urn-finialled parapet (see NOTES); central mansard to attic. Fascia cornice; 1st-floor cill course; modillioned eaves cornice; blocking course linking dormers. Channelled quoin strips. Round-arched windows at 1st floor and attic and to 2nd-floor oriel; segmental-arched windows elsewhere at 2nd floor. Corniced window margins with carved keystones throughout; Ionic pilasters flanking 1st-floor windows and to 2nd-floor oriel; stop-chamfered, roll-moulded margins and moulded, bracketed cills elsewhere at 2nd floor; acroteria at 2nd floor and attic.

Plate glass to shopfronts; plate glass in timber sash and case windows to 2nd-floor oriel; 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows elsewhere. Grey slate roof; fish scale slates to central mansard; metal ridges.

63 HIGH STREET: Broad pend to left and late-20th-century shopfront to right at ground floor; upper bays grouped 1-3 above pend and shopfront respectively. Fascia cornice; modillioned eaves cornice. Deeply recessed windows: single lights to left bay; stone-mullioned bipartites to right with pilaster strips between bays; projecting margins and chamfered cills throughout. Set-back, flat-roofed dormers with bipartite windows.

Plate glass to shopfront; multi-pane metal-framed windows above, with fixed lower and tilting upper sections; casements to attic. Grey slate roof. Corniced, rendered gablehead stacks with circular buff clay cans.

Statement of Interest

A striking, late-19th-century, French Renaissance-style former department store with fine carved stone detailing at its upper levels, situated towards the later, northern end of Hawick's High Street and making a very strong contribution to the streetscape.

The parapet to the central oriel, which acts as a balcony to the mansard attic, bears the words 'HAWICK CO-OPERATIVE STORE COMPANY LIMITED' to its central panel, with 'ESTABLISHED 1839' to the left and '1885 ERECTED' to the right. The keystones to the window margins are carved with predominantly female heads at first floor, child heads to the second-floor oriel, and 'green men' elsewhere at second floor.

The Hawick Co-Operative Store Company grew out of the Chartist Association, and opened its first store (the Hawick Chartist Provision Store) at 1 Silver Street in 1839, moving to 7 Sandbed in 1842. By the late 1880s it had grown to include six general stores, five butchers', a bakery, a shoe shop, a coal branch, a drapery, transport services and a savings bank. This block of buildings on High Street was built as its department store, originally consisted of only Nos 65 and 67; it was later extended to the south (No 63), north (Nos 69 to 73) and rear. Shoppers collected stamps which could be exchanged for goods, and the various departments communicated with each other via pneumatic tubes. The buildings closed as the Co-Operative's department store in 1987, and were sold to developers; the substantial rear structures were demolished at that time, which explains the blankness of the remaining rear wall. The upper levels remain interconnected, and it is understood that interior details remain at attic level, although these were not seen at resurvey (2008). List description revised and category changed from C(S) to B at resurvey (2008).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17834649

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.

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