The Buildings at Risk Register (BARR) for Scotland was set up by the Scottish Civic Trust in 1990 to raise awareness of listed buildings or buildings in conservation areas that were empty and falling into disrepair. The Register eventually passed into the custodianship of Historic Environment Scotland in 2015, ultimately recording around forty properties of concern in Dundee.
In September 2024, following a detailed consultancy report, HES announced that management of the BARR would be paused to allow its future form to be reviewed. You can read the full details here, while the Register may still be viewed here.
Despite the current absence of an active national database, Dundee Civic Trust shall continue to draw attention to those buildings in the city seen to be ‘at risk’. They may be of historical significance, exemplify a particular architectural style or tradition, reflect shared memories or offer exciting and sustainable redevelopment opportunities. Collectively, they make an important contribution to Dundee’s urban landscape, helping to shape its unique identity. It is essential, therefore, that they are maintained well and brought into positive use.
The Trust works to raise the profile of such buildings and supports appropriate regeneration proposals.
Examples
Old General Post Office, 4 Meadowside (Category B listed; Conservation Area)
The ‘B’ listed old GPO building sits impressively on the corner of Meadowside and Constitution Road. It was built in the flamboyant Franco-Italian Renaissance style between 1895 and 1898 and designed by Walter Wood Robertson, the principal architect in Scotland for HM Office of Works.
It comprises three storeys and an attic, all faced with polished ashlar, and banded at the very tall ground floor which housed the public offices. At the centre of the wallhead balustrade is a recess which contains the Royal Coat of Arms; and above the centrepiece’s corner pilasters are statues of angelic figures. One of which is holding a post-horn and a letter and the other a thunderbolt (the emblem of electricity), symbolising the postal and telegraph departments. The north elevation on Euclid Street, originally containing only one bay, was extended in 1921-2 in red sandstone. A recess on Meadowside at ground floor level originally housed the Dundee & District Post Office World War 1 Memorial, now relocated to Dundee East Delivery Office.
Walter Wood Robertson was born in Elie in 1845 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art while being articled to John Chesser in Edinburgh. He worked in Edinburgh and Manchester and then moved to London in 1871, joining the Office of Works. In 1877 he was appointed principal architect and surveyor for Scotland. Over a period of more than twenty five years he was responsible for a wide range of public buildings, including the Inland Revenue offices and the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh; post offices in Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Dunfermline, Greenock and elsewhere across the country; and the South African war memorial in Dunfermline Abbey. He died in Edinburgh in 1907.
As part of economy measures the Post Office closed the main part of the building in early 2000, retaining only a small modernised outlet which has subsequently become a shop. The Post Office relocated to Whitehall Street. The building was bought by the High School of Dundee with ambitious plans for an Arts Centre with supporting school facilities, designed by Glasgow architects Page\Park in 2016. These did not come to fruition and the building was put up for sale again. In March 2023 a planning application was submitted for its conversion into residential flats but this has not proceeded and the building still appears to be for sale.
Robertson’s Whisky Bond, 38-40 Seagate (Category B listed; Conservation Area)
Dominatin
g the north-western elevation of the Seagate, Robertson’s Bond was designed by the Dundee architect David William Baxter whilst working for Alexander Johnston. It was built in 1897 in the Jacobethan style as a whisky manufacturing plant or bond for John Robertson & Co, proprietors of the famous ‘Yellow Label’ brand.
A four storey, basement and attic structure with a red ashlar-fronted facade and slate roof, it is nearly symmetrical except for the pend on the left side. The entrance bays feature arched entrances, one with heavy consoles, strapwork and urn decoration.
The upper floors feature three light mullioned and transomed windows, framed by slim ogee-capped turrets which cant out from the first floor.
Notable features include the the cill courses on the first and third floors, a main corbelled cornice and a crenellated parapet with shaped and crow stepped gable, oculi and ball finials.
John Robertson & Son was established in 1827 and in 1896 was incorporated as a limited company, acquiring both the existing business as wine and spirit merchants in Seagate and Candle Lane and ground at Coleburn, Elgin, for a distillery from William Brown Robertson, also a wine and spirit merchant in Dundee.
In 1906 the Candle Lane Bond was badly affected by the huge fire at the nearby Watson’s Bond.
The Coleburn Distillery was subsequently built and operated until 1915, when it was sold to the Clynelish Distilling Co. In 1966 the company changed its name to William Sanderson & Son Ltd and still operates today.
After its whisky bond days, from 1980 the Seagate building was the home of Dundee Printmakers’ Workshop until it moved to DCA in 1999.
The ground floor and basement are currently operating commercially, but the four floors above have been the subject of a number of schemes. It was recently up for auction late last year, with planning permission for conversion into 27 flats including Listed Building Consent and building warrant in place.
Broughty Ferry Station (Category A listed; Conservation Area)
Broughty Ferry is loosely described as the oldest operational railway station in Scotland, which is fundamentally true. Although Monifieth and Carnoustie stations also date from the opening of the Dundee & Arbroath Railway in 1838, they later underwent considerable alterations not applied at Broughty Ferry, where the original station buildings are still an integral part of the layout.
These buildings have, however, been largely unused since the station became unstaffed in 1985. At that time British Rail intended to send in the bulldozers; but this was thwarted when the complex received Category B listed status (upgraded to Category A in 1991). By the mid-1990s the station saw few train services and had fallen into a state of vandalised dereliction.
Under its station regeneration programme, privatised Railtrack undertook a restoration project around 2000. The redundant signal box and covered footbridge were taken down and the station was broadly returned to its original appearance from 1838. Following the collapse of Railtrack two years later, that company’s successor Network Rail obtained consent to make further alterations, enclosing part of the Up platform under the canopy (to provide a business space) and building a rather curious replica of the old signal box on the opposite side from its original position.
The Civic Trust awarded a Commendation in 2014 for this work. Ten years later, we are dismayed to note that the station complex remains unoccupied. It is being marketed for tenancy under the ScotRail Station Spaces initiative, but the sign on Gray Street advertising this fact has been destroyed by vandalism and not replaced. Meanwhile the signs of neglect are there, with vegetation beginning to sprout and faulty roof drainage causing rainwater to discharge down the walls.
The train service to Broughty Ferry has now been revitalised. Surely, with a little commitment from the rail authorities, a new use can be found for this property.
East Graving Dock Pump House (Category B listed)
This single storey, five bay gabled pump house sits alongside the 500 foot long East Graving Dock.
Built in 1869 as th
e port expanded eastwards, it was designed by harbour engineer David Cunningham, with Charles Ower (Senior) as consulting engineer.
It features a central arched doorway and end gables with skewputts and ball finials. The slate roof has large skylights and two conical-capped ventilators to the east over the basement pumps.
The pumps were originally steam powered, probably by vertical marine engines. The west end of the pump house probably housed the boilers. The chimney and two 5-ton cranes have been demolished.
It is currently owned by Forth Ports, but no maintenance appears to have taken place in recent years.
The East Graving Dock has been identified as the location for the refurbished HMS ‘Unicorn’, although there is no information about the role of the pump house in the proposed development.
Logie and St John’s (Cross) Church, Blackness Avenue (Category B listed; Conservation Area)
Logie & St John’s (Cross) Church is a ‘B’ listed Church of Scotland building which makes a significant architectural statement on the site enclosed by Blackness Avenue, Shaftesbury Road and Shaftesbury Terrace. It was designed by Dundee architect Frank Thomson and built between 1912 and 1914 to accommodate a thousand worshippers. It was dedicated on 3 September 1914, soon after the start of the First World War.
It originated from the Free St John’s Cross congregation which had been worshipping since 1843 at the old Gaelic Chapel, South Tay Street. That building was later to become a cinema.
The new church appeared as a substantial Romanesque cruciform building of hammer-dressed masonry with a truncated tower at the south east corner but no spire, as was originally intended. It features a variety of stained glass windows by J W Guthrie and Andrew Wells Ltd in 1922, the St Enoch Glass Company in 1931 and by Alexander L Russell, who became the Head of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art between 1950 and 1965. Russell also designed the Dundee Training College (for teachers) World War 1 memorial. The 1925 organ is by Allan Watson and the adjoining hall is a miniature version of the church with a brick extension by Robbie & Wellwood, added in 1974.
Frank Drummond Thomson was one of the sons of James Thomson, the famous City Architect and Engineer. Born in 1882, he followed his father into the profession: first training with T M Cappon in Dundee, then working from 1902 onwards in London with Niven & Wigglesworth. During this time he designed Coldside and Blackness libraries and the King’s Theatre, subsequently coming north in 1909 to join his brother Harry in what turned out to be a short-lived partnership. He designed buildings across the city including cinemas, warehouses, and the less successful Craigiebank church and hall which was recently demolished. He died in 1961, still working.
In 1982 the St John’s (Cross) congregation merged with Logie Church in Scott Street, which was closed, subsequently demolished and replaced by flats. The Logie hall still stands and is now a dance studio.
As part of the Church of Scotland’s latest consolidation plans the Logie St John’s (Cross) congregation has now merged with Dundee West in Roseangle (which is opposite the Art College) to worship there, with the Blackness building now redundant and likely to be put up for sale in 2025.
Rescued
Panmure Villa (latterly Armitstead House) and Lodge, Monifieth Road (lodge Category C listed; Conservation Area)
Originally one of the villas belonging to the Broughty Ferry manufacturing class, Panmure Villa was renamed around 1930 after being purchased by the Trustees of Lord Armitstead for conversion to a children’s convalescent home. Latterly used as the Armitstead Child Development Centre by NHS Tayside, the premises fell into a derelict state after abandonment (circa 2010), when the facility was relocated to King’s Cross Hospital.
As is often the case, hopes that the former house and its listed lodge would be restored involved one false start and the passage of several years before conversion back to domestic use took place. Today the villa, lodge and gate piers form part of a townhouse and apartment development by H&H Properties, with views across the Tay.