Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

142, 144 BELL STREET AND 18 WATSON STREET (FORMER GLASGOW CORPORATION CLEANSING DEPARTMENT)LB33816

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
16/03/1993
Supplementary Information Updated
16/03/2012
Local Authority
Glasgow
Planning Authority
Glasgow
Burgh
Glasgow
NGR
NS 59777 64914
Coordinates
259777, 664914

Description

A W Wheatley, 1896-8. Predominantly 4-storey, 9-bay by 13 bay rectangular plan (former Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Department Depot) with advanced outer bays. Arranged around internal courtyard and on corner site in city centre. Attic storey to S elevation with 3-bay return to W and E elevations. Red sandstone cladding to brick; ashlar at ground floor, coursed rock-faced with ashlar dressings to upper floors; red brick with white brick cill courses and lintels to S elevation. Base course and string course at ground floor, banded lintel course at 1st and 2nd floors; cill course at 3rd floor also with cornice and blocking course. Predominantly shallow-arched and keystoned openings at ground floor; flat-arched window openings with chamfered surround and long and short raised dressings elsewhere. Those at 1st and 2nd floor windows to advanced outer bays set within tall round-arched keystoned recessed panels.

NE (BELL STREET) ELEVATION: flat-arched pend opening with cast iron gates to centre; entrance to left of pend.

NW (WATSON STREET) ELEVATION: corbelled truncated stack to left.

SW ELEVATION: 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor windows set within shallow-arched recessed panels, arch detailing in white brick. Later rectangular dormer breaking eaves off centre to right.

Predominantly 3-pane hopper over 2-pane casement windows in timber frames, some blocked openings. Piended roof, grey slates; painted steel boxed ridge vents to S elevation.

INTERIOR (seen 1993): floors on riveted girders on cast-iron columns. (see NOTES).

Statement of Special Interest

The former Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Department building is a rare surviving example of a building of this type, incorporating multi-storey stabling and horse ramps. The building makes a significant contribution to the streetscape prominently positioned on a corner site in the centre of Glasgow. The building exhibits good stonework detailing including ashlar band courses and long and short ashlar dressings to openings.

The building was designed to accommodate the Cleansing Department's horses, carts, harnesses and fodder. Carts were stored on the ground floor with stables on the upper floor. The original horse ramps rising from the ground floor to the third floor remain together with the cast-iron and timber horseboxes to the stables. The original plans indicate that the pend was flanked by foreman's offices, above which were general stores and a drying room and at 2nd floor a boiler house and saddlery. At the 3rd floor were living quarters, accessed by a separate stair with an entrance to Bell Street. The upper floors of the SW block originally accommodated a granary and hay loft.

The City Cleansing Department was established in May 1868 however from the early nineteenth century the police had been responsible for cleansing the city and maintaining the public streets. In 1895 the police authority merged with the council becoming the Corporation of the City of Glasgow. Functions, such as street cleaning and maintenance were taken over by the Corporation. Horse-drawn vehicles were the main method for refuse collection and street cleaning until after WWII. The building continued to provide stabling for police horses until the early 1970s and is currently used as a depot for Glasgow City Council's Land and Environmental Services.

A W Wheatley was Glasgow City Engineer in the 1890s, working in Glasgow Office of Public Works Architectural Department (later Glasgow Corporation City Engineer's Department). Wheatley also designed the cleansing depot in Sawmillfield Street in 1899 (largely demolished), but he may have also been involved in other buildings for the cleansing department around this time.

Category changed from C(S) to B and list description updated 2012.

References

Bibliography

Dean of Guild Plans, Glasgow City Archives (30 April 1896) Reference 1/4484. Evident on Ordnance Survey Map 3rd Edition (1910). P D Fairlie Review of Public Cleansing in Glasgow from 1868 to 1968 (1968). JR Hume, The Industrial Archaeology of Glasgow (1974), p136. Dearle and Henderson Application for Listed Building Consent for Change of Use, Refurbishment & Redevelopment of 142, 144 Bell Street, Glasgow: Supporting Conservation Statement (5 January 2010). www.scran.ac.uk(accessed 29/12/2010). www.scottisharchitects.org.uk (accessed 29/12/2010).

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.

Images

There are no images available for this record, you may want to check Canmore for images relating to 142, 144 BELL STREET AND 18 WATSON STREET (FORMER GLASGOW CORPORATION CLEANSING DEPARTMENT)

There are no images available for this record.

Search Canmore

Printed: 28/03/2024 14:43