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Summary

Description

A two-storey former mill-owner's house, built in 1829 with later additions. It comprises a three-bay, rectangular-plan main block with an extended bay to the east and two rear wings. The building is constructed in coursed rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings. The main range and the first rear wing have corniced parapets concealing the gutters. The roofs are slated with skewputted gables and ashlar shouldered and corniced chimneystacks. The building generally retains timber sash and case windows, mostly in a twelve-pane configuration, with some uPVC replacements to the rear.

The ground floor of the original main block has an advanced triple-light bay window to the west and a bipartite window to the east (formerly the entrance). The current main entrance is in a chamfered opening to the extended east bay, which was added prior to the mid 19^th century. The east extension forms a three-bay east elevation to the main block with a string course and central first-floor oculus window.

The rear (north) elevation of the main block is largely abutted by a full-height wing that extends west. It is built in a similar style and materials to the main block but has a gabletted dormer window rising through the eaves to the south. Much of the north (rear) elevation of this wing is connected to a second rear wing (added in the late 19^th century) via a flat-roofed link. The link has a single bay to the west with a gabletted window and a ball-finial. The second rear wing is less ornate in character, with a first-floor oriel window facing south and a triple-light window in the west gable. It has a lower gabled projection to the east elevation, facing the yard with a round-arched window.

The interior has been subdivided into flats and has been modernised, but it retains a number of 19^th century decorative features, including a compartmented hall ceiling, stone staircase, window and door architraves, cornicing, and panelling.

The house is situated in grounds with mature trees immediately to the south of the former Pitalpin Works jute mill (now mostly demolished). The mill is on higher ground and separated from the mill-owner's house by a high boundary wall with pyramidal coped gate-piers and access via an open passage to Donald's Lane. There is a lean-to garden shelter with semi-conical roof in the garden to the west of the house and a mono-pitched lean-to shed in the yard to the east.

Historical Development

Pitalpin House is identified on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map for Forfarshire (surveyed 1859, published ca.1860). The footprint of the house shows the front bay window, the east extension and the first rear wing, with several outbuildings to the north between the house and the mill complex, and a walled garden to the east. The Dundee Town Plan (surveyed 1872) shows the second rear wing replacing earlier outbuildings, bringing the house largely into the footprint in which it appears today (2025). Further demolitions of the outbuildings took place between 1872 and the Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1937, published 1939).

The house was built for the proprietor of the Pitalpin Works, James Donald, whose name is given to the nearby Donald's Lane. James Donald & Son established a flax spinning mill at Pitalpin in 1829 and the business had expanded to jute production by 1856. Compared to other Dundee mills, the mill-owner's house was located unusually close to the mill. Pitalpin House and the Pitalpin Works latterly passed through the ownership of A.A. Milne & Company, Spalding & Valentine, and William Halley & Sons, before finally closing in 1988.

Although the Donald family ceased to operate the Pitalpin Mill by 1869, as "Donald Brothers” they continued as manufacturers of jute canvas and sacking. In the 1890s, the firm diversified into decorative linens and art canvases and became prominent manufacturers of interior fabrics well into the 1960s. The business had an international market, notably through the work of American Arts and Crafts designer Gustav Stickley (1858-1942).

The house itself was subdivided into flats around 1990 and remains occupied. The industrial setting of Pitalpin House has been altered by the recent demolition of much of the Pitalpin Works (2017) which was damaged by fire in 1990 (formerly listed as Lochee, Stewart's Lane, Donald's Lane And Pitalpin Street, Pitalpin Works, ref: LB25108). However, a number of ancillary features survive, including the boundary walls, stables, worker's accommodation, a former jute warehouse (now converted into flats) and cobbled setts to Donald's Lane.

Statement of Special Interest

Pitalpin House meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

Architectural Interest

• It is a notable early example of a Dundee mill-owner's house that demonstrates good stonework and early 19^th century classical detail, including the survival of some good interior schemes.
• The building appears relatively unchanged despite its conversion into flats – its overall form and footprint have remained unaltered since the mid-19^th century.
• Although much of the associated mill buildings have recently been demolished, elements of the wider complex survive including the boundary walls, one of the jute warehouses (converted to flats) and workers houses.
• The house is still physically interconnected to the remnants of the mill site and retains a functional relationship to its former industrial setting. It also retains much of its large open garden and approach form the south.

Historical Interest

• Built in 1829 in conjunction with the Pitalpin Mill complex, the house is amongst the earliest surviving examples of mill complexes and their associated structures that remain in Dundee.
• The house is the principal surviving remnant of the of the former mill complex and is of social historical significance for its connection to Dundee's industrial history.
• It is a notable example of a significant industrialist's house set unusually close to the mill complex.

Description and statement of special interest updated in 2025.

References

Bibliography

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