Description

John Smith of Darnick, 1827. 2-storey and raised basement, 3-bay, symmetrical, rectangular-plan house with regular tripartite fenestration, Greek portico and Regency-style balcony; stable block to rear. Squared and snecked whinstone rubble with polished cream ashlar portico, plain architraves and angle margins. Band courses at basement and principal level; eaves cornice; quoins and long and short dressings at openings have droved tails.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: steps to open recessed portico-type porch; 4 square columns of Greek anta order, in distyle-in-antis arrangement (2 outer columns engaged) supporting plain entablature with cornice and blocking course; recessed tripartite doorpiece behind. Single windows to basement. Tripartite windows in outer bays and above doorway. Cast-iron Regency-style balcony to principal floor, supported on slim columns.

NW AND SE (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: 3-bay; single windows to principal and 1st floors in each bay. Wing walls to left and right, surmounted by classical urns.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: 3-bay obscured by later 2-storey piend-roofed bachelor wing accessed by bridge from 1st floor.

Original 8-pane sash and case windows to rear and sides, replaced by 4-pane on main SW elevation at principal and 1st floors. Grey slate piended roof; corniced stacks; moulded octagonal cans.

INTERIOR: 2 later wood and compostion chimneypieces; original decorative plaster cornices to principal rooms; billiard room; panelled doors and shutters; stone staircase; iron balusters and timber handrail.

STABLES: single-storey and attic, 5-bay, piend-roofed former stables and carriage house with segmental carriage arch to SE (partially blocked and glazed). Central hayloft dormer breaking eaves to NE (entrance) elevation.

GATES, GATEPIERS AND RAILINGS: 2 pierced cast-iron gatepiers with pyramidal caps and finials adjoining to SW of lodge; cast-iron gates with anthemion details; wrought-iron railings with fleur-de-lys heads flanking gatepiers.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with 'Chuckie Lodge (Formerly Harryburn Lodge)' (see separate listing).

Harryburn is a fine country house built in 1827 for John Romanes, banker and town clerk of Lauder, to designs by John Smith (1782-1864). Its distinctive Greek anta porch and cast-iron balcony oversailing the basement level are design elements of particular note. Smith had continued the business of his father, also John - a mason and builder in Darnick, near Melrose - after the latter's death, along with his younger brother Thomas. The Smiths were enterprising, and whilst their practice consisted mainly of designing and enlarging small houses, rural churches, schools and manses, they were also employed by a number of Borders landowners - most notably Sir Walter Scott, who commissioned them to build his home, Abbotsford, to the designs of William Atkinson. At Harryburn, Smith added the Regency-style balconies supported on slim columns to the main house in 1851, and may also have been responsible for the associated Chuckie Lodge (listed separately at resurvey 2009).

Screen walls surmounted by large classical urns hide single-storey stables behind (now converted for residential use). Formerly detached, the two-storey piend-roofed bachelor wing linked house and stable in the later 19th century.

List description updated at resurvey (2009).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17841238

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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