Building record MAB6747 - THE TOWER HOTEL, 103-105 HIGH STREET, ELGIN

Townhouse, at time in use as a hotel, now a commercial property.

Townhouse, at time in use as a hotel, now a commercial property. Dated 1634, and remodelled in the mid-late 19th century. It is a tall Scots-Baronial asymmetrical three-storey and attic, three-bay house, constructed from rubble with ashlar dressings. There is a modern shop front projecting at the ground floor with a central door and flanking shop windows, and there is a cast-iron balustrade above. The upper recessed facade is constructed from roughly tooled rubble with polished ashlar dressings. There are regular tall windows with 15-pane sashes at the first and second floor, and three wallhead dormers with shaped pedimented gables, the centre bearing 1853 date, and those flanking with the initials 'W M'. There is also a mullioned and transomed two-storey bowed window, with cable moulding decorated with animal heads above each window, and a half conical roof. There is a rubble-built circular tower of two stages with a small square cap house, with an iron cross at the apex, corbelled out at the third stage. It has roll-moulded and chamfered architraves to the doorway in the tower, and a moulded string course between the ground and first floor. There is a turret in the re-entrant angle with conical, fish scaled slates, and modern extensions to the rear. The main roof of the building is slate, and it has a stone ridge. The tower is supposed to have stood on the site of a house of the order of St John of Jerusalem. Although within the medieval burgh a watching brief by SUAT in 1987 located natural sand directly below the foundations of the 17th century townhouse.

Period Notes
Built in 1634, and remodelled in the mid-late 19th century. The rear extensions are modern. Listed designation given on 26/01/1971.

SUAT, 1988, ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF PROPOSED SHOPPING CENTRE DEVELOPMENT AT 107/147 HIGH STREET, ELGIN, p. 1 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4837.

BOGDAN, NQ, 1991, Castles, Manors & Town House survey, p.37 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2251.

townhouse

SUAT, 1994, ELGIN BURGH SURVEY: ARCHAEOLOGICAL UPDATE (Bibliographic reference). SAB4738.

Jan 1 1976 , AAS/GR/76/CT120, AAS/GR/76/CT120 (Ground Photograph). SAB32445.

Record last edited

Jun 4 2020 1:49PM