Description
Constructed around 1896 and opened by 1897, this former hotel may contain earlier fabric. It has two storeys and seven bays to its principal elevation in Moray Street. The gabled and corner-turreted first floor and roofline are particularly distinctive. There is a single storey and attic seven bay section (forming an L-plan) to Joiner's Close which is now known as the former caretaker's accommodation but was originally likely to be stabling and it has a hayloft opening to the attic. It is possible that this building may also contain earlier fabric. There is a single storey and attic, rectangular plan rubble and brick built warehouse attached to the rear which is excluded from the listing.
On the principal elevation of the hotel, there is a wide central, two-leaf timber panelled door with a heavy decorative finialled and bracketed cornice above. Above this there is an advanced tripartite gabled window with a tall slated pavilion roof with ornate iron cresting. The first floor windows are bipartite and tripartite and have decorative cills and bargeboarded gables which break the eaves. The walls are rendered and painted white. The band course, quoins and window surrounds are painted black. The outer bays have first floor octagonal corner turrets with conical roofs with decorative iron finials.
The windows to Moray Street are four-pane timber sash and case to the ground floor (now boarded up) and plate glass timber sash and case to the first floor. There are corniced and coped gable end chimney stacks with decorative clay cans and a ridge chimney stack off centre to the right. There are stone skews on the gable ends. There is a graded grey slate roof with bands of decorative fish scale slating to the corner turrets and the central pavilion roof.
The stables and hayloft to Joiner's Close has a piended and slated roof. Part of the interior of the ground floor public house occupies the ground floor space of this section. A cartshed opening is partially infilled with brick at the ground to form a large window opening. There is a hayloft opening on the first floor breaking the eaves.
The interior was seen in 2017. The ground floor of the hotel and former stables has been significantly altered. The first floor has also been altered and there are no particular features of interest.
The warehouse, attached to the rear of hotel and the east elevation of the former stables, dates from 1896. It is single storey with an attic and with a gabled and slated roof. The interior was converted in the later 20th century to form part of the hotel dining and kitchen facilities, accessed by a doorway. The exterior has been extensively altered, including large window openings.
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 warehouse to the rear and the interiors of the hotel and the former stables.
Statement of Special Interest
The Blackford Hotel on Moray Street is an architecturally distinctive village hotel with a particularly decorative first floor and roofline. It has interest as a tangible reminder of Scotland's burgeoning tourist industry where travel was increasingly popular and more sophisticated levels of accommodation were expected.
The hotel also has interest for its connection to the brewing industry when commercial brewing was at its peak in the late 19th century. It was built at the same time and on the same site as its associated brewery (many of the buildings have been demolished however the maltings survives and is a listed building) and the grouping of the brewery with a hotel is rare and of interest. The historical association of Blackford with brewing also adds interest to this grouping.
The Blackford Hotel was found to meet the criteria for listing.
The interior and the warehouse to the rear were not found to meet the criteria for listing. While it is likely associated with the brewing complex before 1896, it has been extensively altered to form part of the hotel premises in the 20th century.
Age and Rarity
The hotel, stables and warehouse to the rear were built around 1896. However, it is likely that the hotel and stables may incorporate earlier fabric. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1863 shows buildings (an earlier inn) occupying the footprint of the 1896 hotel and stables. The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed in 1899, shows the plan form of the hotel, stables and warehouse as they are now (2018) albeit with further adjoining buildings to the east no longer surviving.
In the early 19th century William Eadie founded a brew house and posting house (or coaching inn) including livery stables at this location. An article in the Dundee Advertiser from March 1881 publicises the site for sale with the particulars consisting of a hotel, brewery, plant and dwelling.
William Thomson purchased Mr Eadie's property, and construction of the Blackford Hotel, a new brewery, including the maltings building (listed building LB4543) and an aerated water factory to the east of the brewery (now demolished) followed. New stabling was also erected to the rear with cart and lorry sheds and a hayloft above (also now demolished).
An article in the Dundee Advertiser on 9 April 1897 describes the 'new brewery at Blackford' and notes that 'The Old Blackford Inn is now fitted up as a dwelling house and is occupied by Mr James Thomson, who is taking charge of the brewery. This old inn and the new Blackford Hotel, both belonging to Mr Thomson form frontages to Moray Street.' The Dundee Courier of Saturday 16 July 1898 describes the hotel as the 'Blackford Hotel, with stabling adjoining'.
From the mid-18th century onwards, there was a gradual improvement in the condition of Scotland's roads and of the general travel infrastructure with Blackford's railway station opening in 1848. This meant that it was easier for people to travel and different types of accommodation were required to cater for the growing number of tourists. Blackford, with its railway station and its location on the main route from Stirling to Perth was well-placed to take advantage of this trade. The previous Blackford Hotel on the site was advertising itself specifically to this market as shown in the Alloa Advertiser of 21 June 1890 where the owner noted that he was 'prepared to supply Excursionists, Tourists, and Travellers…excellent stabling on the premises.'
Late 18th and 19th century inns were found on principal routes across Scotland. These establishments generally offered travellers basic accommodation, along with food and drink and stabling. The use of the word 'hotel' appears more frequently from the early 19th century onwards and suggested a more sophisticated type of accommodation in keeping with the demands and expectations of travellers as the century progressed. Hotels in smaller settlements, on the scale of the Blackford Hotel, are much less common than the more typically-encountered inns, which were generally modest in scale and very simply designed. What further sets the Blackford Hotel apart from typical accommodation in villages for travellers is the high degree of architectural embellishment applied to the first floor and roofline. More about this aspect can be found under Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality.
In terms of age the Blackford Hotel is not an early example of a hotel. In considering rarity, hotels are found across Scotland and are not a rare building type, however, hotels of this scale and architectural detailing are less common in smaller settlements, such as Blackford.
There is another aspect of interest here in terms of rarity which is the relationship between the brewery and the hotel. The brewery and the hotel were built at the same time on the same site during the brewing boom of the late 19th century. The Brewing Industry (Pearson, 2010) notes that brewery construction 'grew in pace during the early 1860s and reached a peak in the 1880s, generally declining into the early years of the 20th century.' It was during this peak of brewery construction that the Blackford brewery and hotel were built.
The maltings building (listed at category C) from the brewery complex survives and it is situated a short distance to the rear of the hotel. Few maltings from Scotland's once widespread brewing industry survive (less than 20 maltings are listed and many of those relate to distilling and not exclusively to brewing as at Blackford) and Blackford has a particularly significant part in that history. Brewing at Blackford can be dated back to 1488 when King James IV bought a barrel of Blackford Ale, making it the earliest recorded example of a public brewery in Scotland. At the time that this brewery was built there were three large breweries in Blackford. Comparison with other surviving maltings suggests that a direct relationship with a hotel or inn was not common. The former maltings in Newton of Falkland (LB13311) and nearby Pitlessie in Fife (LB2601) as well as the brewery in Belhaven, East Lothian (LB24730) appear to have no such link. The direct relationship between the brewery to the rear and the ready market of the hotel to Moray Street in Blackford is considered to be of interest and likely to be very rare as most public houses in Scotland were commissioned by individual publicans rather than brewing companies (Donnachie, p.153). Another example is known, The Cross Keys Inn in Ancrum (LB225), which was rebuilt in 1906 by the Jedburgh Brewery and the brewery's initials appear on the inn's façade. However, it is not an exact parallel as the Jedburgh brewery was not located adjacent to the Cross Keys Inn.
Architectural or Historic Interest
Interior
The ground floor of the hotel and stables has been significantly altered with no historic bar features. On the first floor there is cornicing in some rooms and some standard four panel timber doors and timber wainscoting up to dado height in the hallways. There are no historic chimneypieces. The interior is not considered to be special in listing terms and is proposed to be excluded from the listing.
Later alteration to the warehouse to form part of the hotel has lessened its interest in listing terms and it does not form part of the listing.
Plan form
There is no particular interest in the plan form. The L-plan form of the hotel and stables, as shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1899), with the warehouse infill to the rear, is not exceptional.
Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality
Early photographs (Blackford Historical Society) from 1899 to around the 1930s show that the street elevation of the hotel has changed little since it was constructed. The main change is that it has been painted black and white and the timber bargeboards may also have been altered.
It is the scale and design quality of the Blackford Hotel that sets it apart from village hotels or inns. The wide, heavily corniced doorpiece and elaborate first floor and roofline give it a significant presence in the streetscape. The corner turrets and central pavilion roof are unusual in this rural context and care has been taken over the details of the architectural composition. There are decorative chimney cans, bands of fish-scale slating and elaborate ironwork finials and cresting. These are all eye-catching and designed to attract the attention of travellers. Inns rather than hotels were more associated with smaller settlements such as Blackford and those buildings tended to be much more functional in design. The Blackford Hotel is of special interest for the quality of its design.
Setting
The building is prominently positioned at a corner on one of two main roads through Blackford. The hotel is one of the larger and most architecturally distinctive buildings on the street, which was laid out in the 1860s and includes most of the village's public buildings such as the parish church, the Free Church, the village hall and the primary school. In addition to the public buildings, most of the street is comprised of one and two storey houses. The street setting has not changed significantly since the hotel was built and it largely retains its 19th century character.
The relationship with the surviving listed maltings building to the rear is significant. Although the setting has changed with the loss of many of the brewery buildings there remains a tangible and visible connection between the maltings and the hotel which increases the interest of the buildings. They are both evidence of the brewing boom of the late 19th century.
Regional variations
There are no known regional variations other than the historic ties that Blackford has with the brewing industry.
Close Historical Associations
There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2017).