Description

Early 19th century with 1902 and later shopfronts. 3-storey and attic, symmetrical block forming part of terrace, with 2 shops at ground floor, 3 bays to 1st and 2nd floors, and 4 dormers. Painted whinstone rubble with painted ashlar dressings; unpainted timber to shopfronts with black cladding (probably granite) to base. Deep base course; consoled, corniced shopfront fascias; eaves course continuing into cornice. Regular fenestration at 1st and 2nd floors with tripartite windows at centre and canted windows to outer bays; stop-chamfered stone mullions.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: Art Nouveau shopfront by James Pearson Alison to right with central, recessed, segmental-arched, broken-pedimented, 2-leaf, three-quarter-glazed timber doors with timber glazing bars and leaded fanlight; simple tiled floor to lobby; decorative leaded lights containing heart motif to upper outer corners of windows to each side (see NOTES). Left shopfront with central, recessed, three-quarter-glazed timber door with rectangular fanlight and simple mosaic-tiled floor to lobby. Recessed timber door tenement to outer left. Piend-roofed inner dormers; canted outer dormers.

Fixed plate and leaded glass to shopfronts; plate glass in timber sash and case windows to 1st and 2nd floors; predominantly 8-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows to dormers. Grey slate roof with metal ridge. Ashlar-coped, red brick stack with circular buff clay cans shared with No 14 to S.

INTERIOR: Right shop (No 16) with glazed ceramic tiles to walls, dark timber shelves with turned supports, Lincrusta frieze, dark timber chimneypiece and plain cornice. Rear room at No 16 with single cast-iron column supporting ceiling, and cast-iron frontages of bakery ovens (see NOTES).

Statement of Interest

An elegantly proportioned, early-19th-century block with good detailing and a fine Art Nouveau shopfront, situated at the heart of Hawick's High Street and making a strong contribution to the streetscape.

The building was previously a British Linen Bank, the ground floor being split into two shops during the second half of the 19th century. There was a jeweller's shop at this premises after the bank had left, but the shop at No 16 has been Brydon's bakery since the later 1850s. Thomas Brydon commissioned the elegant Art Nouveau shopfront from Hawick's most prominent architect, James Pearson Alison (1862-1932), the designer of many of the town's most distinctive buildings, in 1902. Brydon's initials appear in one of the heart-shaped motifs in the upper part of the shopfront glazing, whilst the other contains the date. Although the bakery ovens themselves have been removed to accommodate access to the upper floors, their doors have been retained, and bear the inscription 'Charles Robertson, Richmond Foundry, 93 Pleasance, Edinburgh'.

Nos 16 and 18 High Street were previously listed jointly with No 14 (now listed separately). List description revised following resurvey (2008).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17835001

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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