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Summary

Description

Ian G Lindsay (architect), 1956. Tall single storey with breaking wallhead dormers, 7-bay roughly rectangular-plan Scottish Renaissance power station with balustraded and coped rubble terrace to SE. Painted render with tabbed sandstone ashlar roll moulded surrounds and quoins; prominent stone cills. Base course and moulded corniced eaves course. Lancet arched sandstone ashlar dormer heads to pseudo-attic storey windows breaking wallhead to SE and NW elevations. Raised stone skews and shaped skewputts

NE ELEVATION: gable end. Single broad bay with slightly recessed lean-to section to right. Tripartite window to centre with carved decorative sandstone ashlar panel above and small decorative arrowslit window to gable apex. Narrow window to right.

SE ELEVATION: 7-bays with 5 large multi-paned windows with louvered ventilators to bottom. Lower doorways to outer bays, decorative sandstone panel to far right (N) above door. Large windows to ground floor in 5-bay centre with louvered vents to base. 5 corresponding breaking eaves dormers at pseudo-attic level.

SW ELEVATION: gable end. Broad single bay with slightly recessed lean-to section to left. Large round arched vehicular access door with metal roller shutter with window directly above in continuous sandstone surround, including decorative panel with North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board Coat of arms. Small window to left (NW).

NW ELEVATION: 7 bays, lean-to section at ground floor, smaller window to far right (SE). Louvered vents in 5 breaking eaves dormers.

Predominantly small pane metal glazing with top and bottom hopper openings in painted metal frames. Pitched roof; grey slates. Sandstone ashlar skew, some shouldered skewputts. Cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR: predominantly plain interior with large open plan turbine hall with offices and ancillary rooms to NW of plan. Gantry crane to rear with large concrete piers supporting steel rails. Large open roof with metal rafters and purlins and timber deck.

BOUNDARY WALLS: balustraded and coped coursed random rubble boundary walls to terrace. Coursed random rubble boundary wall with large rubble piers to power station compound.

Statement of Special Interest

Lussa power station is by prominent architect Ian G Lindsay and is an excellent example of one of the smaller post-war hydro electric developments in a carefully designed historical style for the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board (NoSHEB). Lussa power station exhibits an unusually high level of architectural detail for a small power station of this date, with a design scheme drawing on Scottish historical sources and executed in high quality materials including sandstone dressings. The board were keen to ensure that the power station fitted into the local environment. The building is an excellent example of the work of Ian G Lindsay and echoes his approach to architectural conservation with the combination of historic and modern design features. The scheme played a key role in the realisation of the social agenda of NoSHEB by providing power to the remote community of Campbeltown and stimulating economic regeneration.

Glen Lussa was one of a large number of schemes developed in Scotland by the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board (NoSHEB), formed after 1943 as a nationalised body to oversee the development of Scotland's resources for water power. The scheme played a key role in the realisation of the social agenda of NoSHEB by providing power to a remote community. Power generated on schemes in the southern Highlands, such as Tummel (see separate listings) was exported via the grid to the central belt, the profit from which subsidised the provision of power to remote north Highland communities and stimulated economic regeneration. Under the leadership of eminent chairman Sir Tom Johnston the board undertook developments throughout Highland Scotland and his aspirations saw the development of schemes in locations such as Loch Dubh near Ullapool and Storr Lochs on Skye. Johnston's social aspirations and wider wishes to reinvigorate the economy of the Highlands ensured that schemes in remote areas formed a key part of the NoSHEB development plan.

All of the developments carried out by NoSHEB were subject to parliamentary approval and objections on the grounds of scenic amenity were common. In order to meet these objections the board appointed a panel of architectural advisers which included Reginald Fairlie (1883-1952), James Shearer (1881-1962) and Harold Ogle Tarbolton (1869-1947), appointed in 1943. Initially the role of the panel was to adjudicate on competition entries for designs, but by 1947 it had become one of designers. The panel had little control over the functional form of the buildings, as they left this to engineers, but they did influence the appearance and the style of the designs. The rigid views on the roles of engineers and architects during the design process resulted in the development of a style which can be characterised as vernacular modernism. This style is characteristic of many NoSHEB buildings and is a direct product of the strict role which engineers and architects played in the design process and of the increasing desire to harmonise buildings with the landscape. Following the death of Tarbolton early in the life of the board in 1947, and Fairlie's death relatively soon after in 1952 Shearer was able to exert more control on the direction of the architectural style. In line with increasing public concerns over the impact of developments on scenic amenity by the early to mid 1950s the designs for the board began to move away from the confident classical modernism.

Ian Lindsay (1906-66) was an Edinburgh architect who, along with his practice were one of the foremost authorities in architectural conservation in Scotland from the 1950s to the 1960s. He worked on a number of projects throughout the country, restoring small dwellings, ecclesiastical buildings and castles. He worked extensively at Inveraray and on Iona Abbey. His most high profile work in Edinburgh was the restoration of St. Cecilia's Hall in the Cowgate (see separate listing). Lindsay's experience with a range of Baronial and ecclesiastical buildings and his approach in combining these elements with new design made him ideally suited to the design ideals of NoSHEB and his experience with a range of building types can be seen in the confident use of a number of architectural sources in his design for Lussa.

(Listed 2011 as part of Hydroelectric Power Thematic Survey)

References

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