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Summary

Description

Dated 1905 (remodelling) incorporating earlier 19th century fabric. 2-storey, 2-bay, square-plan Scottish Baronial revival public house with prominent bartizan, crow-stepped gables and wide segmental arched openings at ground with prominent voussoirs. Rendered and washed with polished ashlar dressings. Deep, battered base course; cill course and eaves course. Regular fenestration to front elevation.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: arched openings contain shallow, timber-mullioned canted windows with decorative timber finials above each mullion. Two-leaf timber panelled entrance door within left arch. Stone mullioned tripartite windows at 1st floor. Bartizan with slit openings and battlements. Side elevation with entrance; pedimented window with inscription at first floor.

Small pane glazing in fixed light timber frames to lower part of canted bays and small-paned leaded lights above. Small-pane glazing above and plate glass below in timber sash and case windows to upper floor. Grey slate roof. Ashlar-coped stacks with red and yellow clay cans. Cast-iron rain water goods.

INTERIOR: Edwardian interior with original bar and gantry to right. Reeded timber panelling to dado height. Coved ceiling with applied timber beams. Terrazzo floor outlined at edges in red, grey and black. Glazed timber screen dividing bar area. Timber chimneypiece and cast-iron grate (replacements). Bar counter at right with Ionic pilasters; decorative timber gantry with slender arched fluted Ionic columns and fretwork decoration to arch soffits; door to office within arch at right. 6 large spirit casks above gantry wth brass taps.

Statement of Special Interest

The Red Lion is a fine Edwardian public house with good crisp details in the exterior stonework. The interior, with its finely detailed timber gantry, which still retains the original spirit barrels, and bar counter at the right hand side, is also noteworthy (the sections at the left being replacements). The exterior of the building is largely unaltered; the glazing in the lower part of the canted bays has been replaced but these windows harmonise well with the rest of the fenestration and do not adversely affect the overall character of the building.

The Red Lion Inn is positioned behind the Market Square and approached from there by the Dardanelles, a pedestrian passage. Although in central Kelso it is not on a main thoroughfare but is still an important focal point from East Bowmont Street and a makes significant contribution to the streetscape.

The present Red Lion Inn may well incorporate fabric from an earlier building. A Red Lion Inn was built on this site in 1826. The earlier building had the same footprint as the current one which supports the theory that the present one is a remodelling rather than a new build. The small scrolled corbel-like features over the keystones of the ground floor arches may have been reused from the older building.

Stylistically the building is an eclectic mix of Scottish Baronial and free Renaissance elements with some Art Nouveau touches. No architect has yet been identified for this building but the eclectism would suggest that he was a local man who was aware of contemporary development (there are elements in it reminiscent of the work of Sydney Mitchell of approximately the same date particularly the ground floor arches which may be derived from Mitchell's public house H P Mather's in Edinburgh or they may share a common source).

References

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