Description

A three-bay, two-storey terraced 'house over shop' building in a 'vernacular Modernist' style, built in 1955-6 to designs by Robert Matthew. It has a two-storey gabled outshot and a single-storey flat-roofed range projecting to the rear. The main elevation is faced in random rubble whinstone with a large glazed shopfront across much of the ground floor. The pitched roof has clay pantiles and whinstone chimneystacks. The building remains in its original retail use, with a shop on the ground floor and a flat above. It is located on the east side of Hawick High Street and forms part of a terrace of shops to the north of the Town Hall (listed category A, ref: LB34634).

The main (west) elevation has large plate-glass display windows, an off-centre door screen and a plain timber fascia to the shopfront. There is a pedestrian pend to the left with a metal gate, irregular stone floor slabs and a recessed door. On the first floor are three asymmetrically arranged openings with lintels of vertically arranged small whinstone blocks. The dark coloured stone is contrasted with pale coloured mortar. The left opening is larger, containing French doors and a small concrete Juliet balcony with a curved wooden-shuttered balustrade. The window openings throughout are generally square with rendered reveals, thin concrete cills and serried squared-whinstone lintels. The windows are largely pivoting, single-pane timber casements.

The rear (east) elevation is rendered and the gabled outshot has strip hardwood cladding and an oriel window. The ground floor is largely abutted by the single-storey range, which has roughcast rendered walls and a leaded roof with a monopitched roof lantern (now blocked).

The interior (seen in 2024) comprises a ground floor shop with a flat on the first floor. The internal finishes are plain throughout and largely date from the early 21^st century. The ground-floor is a single commercial space, with a small fitting-room and service spaces to the rear.

There is a steeply sloping garden to the rear of the building with a whinstone retaining wall.

Historical development

The present building was constructed in 1955-56 and is first shown on the Ordnance Survey National Grid map (surveyed 1974, copyright 1974). The footprint of the building does not appear to have changed since this time.

The site of 48 High Street was previously occupied by a three-storey building with a ground-floor shop, rear extensions and outbuildings behind. This earlier building is shown in a historical photograph from 1955 and in plan on the Ordnance Survey 25 Inch map of Roxburghshire (revised 1917, published 1921). It was demolished in 1955-6 and completely replaced by Robert Matthews' design.

Matthew's scheme was designed as a redevelopment of Branch 431 of the British menswear chain Montague Burton. A Hawick branch of Burton's had opened at 3 Oliver Place in 1932 and relocated to 48 High Street in the summer of 1938. Although only a small regional branch, the company had a wider involvement in the local economy as the Hawick textile mills were a substantial source of Scottish tweed for its tailoring. Burton's would remain a popular national brand in the post-war decades when its mass-produced men's tailoring was in most demand.

Beginning in 1953, Burton's undertook a large-scale refurbishment programme which saw around 300 (about half) of its stores modernised. The redesign of the Hawick branch was authorised in April 1955 and was viewed by the Burton's property department as a 'little job' (Glendinning, 2008: p. 167). However, where most of the company's branch refurbishments at this time were largely cosmetic, this was a complete replacement of the existing building. Matthew's designs cost £8,600 and were contracted to the major Edinburgh building firm James Miller & Partners. The architects in Matthew's Edinburgh office working on the designs were Andrew Grindall and Tom Spaven.

After the Burton Group's takeover of Dorothy Perkins in 1979, the Hawick branch relocated to larger premises at the former Hawick Co-operative Society building (listed category B, ref: LB34643) where it remained until closure in 2021. During the 1980s and 90s, 48 High Street was occupied by a branch of the electricals retailer Clydesdale, in the early 2000s by Homecare, and is presently (2025) a Salvation Army charity shop.

The building remains largely unchanged to the exterior except for some alterations to the signage and the filling in of the large rooflight on the rear extension. The interior has been refitted to serve different shop iterations, most recently including the covering over (around 2023) of exposed stonework on the east wall.

Statement of Interest

48 High Street, Hawick, meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

• It is a simple, yet well-detailed example of the internationally renowned Scottish architect, Robert Matthew's, personal design work in Scotland.
• It is an early example of Scottish Modernism and Matthew's design approach at the time, referencing the Scottish vernacular in its use of materials, traditional forms and small scale.
• The building's character has not been adversely affected by later alterations and extensions. The flat roofed wing to the rear is part of the original scheme.
• It is an important early example of a modern-vernacular infill redevelopment within a historic Scottish burgh setting.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the interiors of the building including both those of the shop and the flat.

Architectural Interest

Design

Built in 1955-56, the design of 48 High Street is a notable, early example of vernacular Modernism in Scotland. It shows the personal design ethos of its architect, Robert Matthew, during the 1950s, who fused his interpretation of Modern Movement functionalist ideology with traditional Scottish materials and vernacular features to create a 'national' style of Modernism for Scotland.

Sir Robert Matthew (1906-75) was one of Scotland's leading architects of the 20^th century and an international figure in the Modern Movement. From 1946 to 1953, Matthew was the architect to London County Council, responsible for the expansion of the school building programme, masterplanning new housing estates and designing the celebrated Royal Festival Hall (1948-51). On returning to Edinburgh, Matthew established a private practice, while also serving as Professor of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. His design for Burton's at 48 High Street, Hawick, is one of a small number of commissions completed in independent practice before 1956, when Matthew took Stirrat Johnson-Marshall into partnership. The practice ('RMJM') became highly successful, with a wide-ranging output that included large-scale housing schemes, industrial, commercial and educational buildings.

Matthew was given a free hand in the design of the building on Hawick High Street, and although executed on a small scale, it reflects many of the same design elements seen in his larger buildings, combining functional Modernist design principles with traditional Scottish building materials and forms. These include finely-detailed rubble stonework, an asymmetrical arrangement of the main elevation, timber cladding and Scandinavian style window openings.

Matthew designed the building to be 'in harmony with the Scottish tradition', selecting local whinstone for the rubble walls, pantiles for the roof, rendered rear walls, and adopted traditional forms and scale that reflected those of a small Scottish burgh. Some choices of materials and techniques do not directly relate to those of the local area, particularly the use of pantiles and the timber-clad rear outshot, which are more characteristic of Fife or East Lothian villages. This was a conscious design choice by Matthew as this gave the building a more colourful and striking composition within the streetscape, whilst also referencing Scottish vernacular traditions.

Despite the small scale of the project, Matthew himself produced the initial design, discussed the required shop fittings with the clients and closely supervised the drawing-up of the final details. The plan form is simple but it remains relatively unchanged. It demonstrates Matthew's ethos of functional Modernism, whilst adhering to a traditional form of Scottish burgh architecture (typically a two-storey building with commercial space at the ground floor with residential accommodation above, accessed separately via a pend).

The interior of the shop was fitted out and serviced according to the requirements of the Burton's property department, which was led by architect Nathaniel Martin. The interiors of the shop and flat have been refurbished on several occasions and are largely of 21st-century character. They are not considered to be of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

Matthew's close involvement in the design process contrasted with his later years with the practice Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall (RMJM), when he took a more managerial and promotional role. Only a small number of examples survive from this early period of his work in Scotland, with other examples having been demolished or substantially altered.

The design of 48 High Street remains substantially intact, particularly in its external form and materials. The interior of the shop has been refitted to accommodate changing occupants and retains no features of architectural interest.

48 High Street is of special design interest as it is an early example of a modern style building that incorporates Scottish vernacular building traditions and forms. It remains relatively unaltered and is an important surviving example of the 1950s design work of Scotland's leading post-war architect, Robert Matthew.

Setting

The building is located on Hawick High Street, the town's main shopping thoroughfare, and is within the Hawick Conservation Area (CA610). Other than the Town Hall, which is located nearby to the south (listed category A, ref: LB34634), the only listed building on this part of the street is directly opposite at 47 High Street (listed category C, ref: LB51209). While the wider setting of Hawick High Street is overall largely unchanged since the 1950s, the buildings to the north (making up 50-54 High Street) have since been rebuilt in a plain harled vernacular character. The site of 52 High Street was formerly the Victoria Hotel, a large Tudor Revival building which was demolished in around 1980.

The building at 48 High Street is deliberately modest in scale and height, which allows it to fit into its context of small burgh architecture. However, Matthew's building, through the use of materials such as rubble stone and pantiles, combined with the playful style and arrangement of the openings, stands in sharp contrast to the ashlar stone or rendered walls, slate roofs and classical proportions that make up the established vernacular character of Hawick town centre. It's striking, modern appearance was a reaction against the more historicist interventions in historic burghs by architects such as Robert Hurd or the conservation-led approach of the National Trust's 'Little Houses' programme.

48 High Street represents an early example of an intellectual and novel approach to intervention within a historic context, which would later become widespread across Scotland.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

Historic shops with upper flats from various periods can be found in small burghs across Scotland and are not rare. However, high-quality purpose-built examples from the 1950s are much less common as shops of the post-war period often employed standard materials, were less architecturally distinctive or were simply cosmetic refits of earlier units.

In its heyday of the 1930s, Montague Burton's adopted a highly decorative Art Deco house style for its stores, many of which were purpose-built to designs by in-house architects Harry Wilson and (from the late-1930s) Nathaniel Martin. Five of their major Scottish stores in this house style are listed: Aberdeen, St Nicholas Street (LB20685), Paisley (LB50162), Glasgow (LB32618) and Kirkcaldy (LB44014), all at category B, and Aberdeen, Union Street (LB50957) at category C.

The redevelopment of the Hawick branch was part of Burton's post-war refurbishment programme, begun in 1953, but it was unusual in that it was a complete rebuild of the existing building and involved an already distinguished architect and a major Edinburgh building contractor.

48 High Street remains largely unaltered and is a rare surviving example of Robert Matthew's early work in Scotland. His direct involvement in the design was unusual, particularly when compared to the largely managerial role of his later work, as part of RMJM. The building is also an early example of the use of Scottish vernacular materials and forms within a Modernist design and is one of the first instances of a Modernist redevelopment that shows clear consideration for the character of its historic setting. Both of the these were key elements of Matthew's work during the 1950s and were highly influential in shaping the development of a type of Modernism particular to Scotland, particularly in terms of interventions within historic burghs.

Social historical interest

All shops have a degree of social historical interest as places; however, they are a prolific building type that can be found in every urban settlement.

Established in 1904, Montague Burton's was Britain's leading high street tailor from the 1920s to 1960s with 616 branches across the country by the time its founder, Sir Montague Burton, died in 1952. The company specialised in producing affordable made-to-measure suits and its headquarters at Hudson Road in Leeds, first opened in 1921, was the largest clothing factory in the world at the time.

By 1955, Burton's had operated a branch in Hawick for over 20 years. While 48 High Street is typical of commercial presence in the small burgh, it is of some social historical interest for the connection between Burton's and the local weaving industry, which produced tweed for its products. The rebuilding of the Hawick branch is reflective of the national company investing in domestic local economies on both the level of production and retail. The connection is largely at a local level and is not of special interest in terms of listing.

Association with people or events of national importance

There is no association with a person or event of national importance.

Recommended Books

• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)