Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

James Pearson Alison, 1898. 2-storey and attic, roughly L-plan, gabled, Queen Anne-style villa with gabled, glazed timber porch to front, deep bracketed overhanging eaves, plain bargeboarding, and catslide roof to rear single-storey service wing. Squared, snecked, stugged red sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. Base course. Some stone-mullioned windows; moulded margins; chamfered cills. Pedimented 1st-floor windows breaking eaves.

PRINCIPAL (S) ELEVATION: 3 bays. Advanced, gabled bay to right with canted window at ground floor with decorative parapet bearing blank plaque; tripartite window at 1st floor; bipartite window in apex of gable. Glazed timber porch with stone base in re-entrant angle; tripartite window at ground floor to left; bipartite window with 2-stage pediment breaking eaves above. 2 flat-roofed dormers with small central triangular pediments.

SECONDARY (W) ELEVATION): Symmetrical, gabled. Projecting tripartite windows to left and right at ground, linked by architrave and supporting 1st-floor balcony. Bipartite window with semicircular pediment opening onto balcony at 1st floor. Single lights to left and right at attic.

REAR (N) ELEVATION: Irregular fenestration. Tall, tripartite, mullioned and transomed, round-arched stair window to centre; scrolled cope rising to semicircular-pedimented attic window and wallhead stack above. Semicircular-pedimented window breaking eaves to right. Catslide roof projecting to left, with tripartite flat-roofed dormer to attic.

SIDE (E) ELEVATION: Irregular fenestration, with full-height gable to left, projecting gable to single-storey service wing to right, and slated vertical section of wall between gables.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case windows; small-pane leaded glass to porch; stained glass to stair window; some casement windows to attic. Grey slate roof with metal ridge. Red brick stacks with some short clay cans (see NOTES). Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: Arts and Crafts mosaic floor to porch. Herringbone parquet flooring and dark timber panelling to central hall and to former smoking room. Decorative plaster ceiling and frieze to former drawing room, with Ionic pilasters and egg-and-dart moulding framing inglenook; simple cornices elsewhere. Timber-boarded fitted cupboards to pantry. Some timber panelling around windows. Linenfold carving to 9-panel dark timber doors to principal ground-floor rooms; 4- and 6-panel timber doors elsewhere. 1 cast-iron and several timber chimneypieces. Dark timber panelling to timber stair with fretted balustrade and square newels; dark timber attic stair with turned balusters.

Statement of Special Interest

A substantially unaltered late-19th-century villa with a striking profile and fine exterior and interior detailing, designed by James Pearson Alison (1862-1932), Hawick's most prominent architect. Alison commenced practice in the town in 1888 and remained there until his death, during which period he was responsible for a large number of buildings of widely varying types and styles, including a considerable proportion of Hawick's listed structures. Ardenlea is particularly unusual in its use of a 'Queen Anne' style that is seldom found in Scotland, and recalls the work of English architects such as Richard Norman Shaw and John James Stevenson.

Ardenlea was built for T H Armstrong. The original plans and drawings show that the house had grouped barley-twist chimneystacks, similar to those of the near-contemporary Wilton Church Hall (also listed), also designed by Alison; only their octagonal bases now remain at Ardenlea. The drawings also show that the first-floor balcony on the west elevation originally had (or was intended to have) a balustraded parapet.

For a time the house was used as an annexe to the adjacent Kirklands Hotel, for which purpose bathrooms were installed in the former dressing rooms and other service areas off the first-floor bedrooms. Besides these minor alterations, and the removal of some fireplaces, there have been no other significant changes to the interior.

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.