Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Earlier 19th century. 3-storey, 4-bay, rectangular-plan, commercial building with tenement flat to upper floors sited to corner of island block to the centre of the town. Segmental-arched, corniced, decorative corbelled hoodmould with heart crest to left entrance on principal (N) elevation, chamfered corner to NE and central shouldered wallhead stack. Course sandstone blocks to principal elevation, painted and rendered to ground and plain eaves cornice. Coursed rubble to side. Stop chamfered sandstone dressings and angled stone cills to tall first floor windows and smaller second floor windows. Corniced entrance to exterior pend to far left of side elevation linking to warehouse to rear.

4-pane timber sash and case windows with horns to principal elevation with 2 over 4 glazing pattern to side elevation (E). 6-pane fixed lights to shop front. 4-panel entrance door to tenement stair (no.78) and timber and glazed bi-fold outer doors to former shop at no. 77. Piended slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative squared hoppers.

INTERIOR: tenement stair to upper floors with stone slab floor, dado rail and decorative cast-iron banisters. 1st and 2nd floor modernised to form commercial premises and residential accommodation to upper floor with internal timber shutters.

Statement of Special Interest

77 and 78 High Street is a good example of a former civic building to the heart of the medieval burgh with good stone details and which makes a positive contribution to the streetscape. The building has had several uses over the years but was likely to have been built as the Good Templars' Hall in the earlier 19th century. The Templars was one of several independent temperance societies that were established from the 1830s onwards. The building is not yet evident on John Wood's map of 1819 although by the 1893 town plan it is marked as the Good Templars' Hall. The entrance to No 78 (the upper floors) is decorative with a crest which may have been that of the Good Templars Society.

The building forms part of an island block surrounded by Market Street, Brown Street and Kilpair Street, where buildings are tightly packed to form a solid block apart from a small exterior pend to the rear of this building and the warehouse building beyond. The island block is evident on early maps of the town and has a strong civic history as the 1853 town plan of Haddington shows both the Gardeners Hall and the Oddfellows Hall in the buildings immediately adjacent to it to the W as well as the Templars and the Order of Forrester's Hall to the top floor of the building on Kilpair Street to the rear of no.77. It is likely that the Templars Meeting Hall was to the first floor of the building with the larger windows as most of the societies on the blocks leased their ground floors to shops or Public Houses and had their meeting rooms upstairs.

The Independent Order of Good Templars was formed in Glasgow in August 1869. It was part of the largest temperance movement in Scotland which had begun in the early nineteenth-century. By 1876 the Templars in Scotland had 1,131 lodges and 83,717 members. Temperance literature had strong religious overtones and frequently cited biblical disdain of intoxication. Like many of its sister groups the Good Templars welcomed women to its ranks.

The ground floor is office accommodation and the first floor a dental practice, (2012) Most recent former use was as an antique and furniture saleroom.

Category changed from B to C and list description updated in 2013.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.