Hydraulic accumulator tower, engine house, boiler house and ancillary building

Hydraulic Accumulator Tower, Engine House, Boiler House and Ancillary Building

A late 19th-century Midland Railway hydraulic accumulator tower with attached engine and boiler house, accompanied by a detached ancillary building. The design is possibly by John Underwood.

The complex comprises a rectangular double-height single-storey power house aligned north-east to south-west, with a brick office extension at the north-east end added in the mid-20th century to replace a detached chimney. The power house is divided functionally into three sections: the north-east end housed the boiler house, the central section the engine house, and the south-west end the accumulator tower, which steps back several metres from the Samuel Street elevation. A parallel ancillary building runs 2 metres to the south-east on the same orientation. Both main buildings are approximately 39 metres long, with the power house about 12 metres wide and the ancillary building approximately 5 metres wide.

The exterior is constructed of red brick laid in English bond, with cream brick forming the five courses beneath the eaves and the segmental arched lintels above window openings, a treatment typical of Midland Railway house style. Stone cills run beneath the windows. The eaves detail features the top three courses projecting half a brick's depth from the lower two courses, with the fourth course displaying alternate brick headers in a dentil pattern.

The north-west elevation facing Samuel Street displays seven tall round-arched window openings at what appears to be first-floor level but is actually the upper part of the double-height single-storey building. These windows contain cast iron frames with curved, horizontal, vertical and diagonal glazing bars. The fourth central opening and its aligned doorway below are blocked. A later 20th-century timber door has been inserted beneath the window to the south-west of centre, and a double doorway with metal roller door and concrete lintel occupies the position beneath the two south-westernmost windows. A course of angled bricks forms a string course at low level, beneath which the brickwork projects approximately half a brick's depth. The mid-20th-century single-storey flat-roofed extension extends the elevation to the north-east, featuring a single 12-light timber window. At the south-west end, the tower steps back from the engine house line, with the low-level string course resuming. A tall recessed brick panel contains two blind round-arched windows crowned by scroll-shaped blue brick dentils. Beneath the projecting eaves of the shallow hipped roof, a course of cream scroll-shaped bricks continues around all sides of the tower.

The north-east elevation facing William Street reveals the gable end of the boiler house and the obscured mid-20th-century extension, alongside the tower side overlooking the interior. The gable features kneelers supported by scrolled stone brackets, with a tall round-arched window opening at its south-east end and a central arched double opening at ground level, both blocked and partially obscured by the extension. A new double doorway has been inserted below the window. The extension includes a single doorway. The tower displays a recessed brick panel containing three tall blind round-headed windows, decorated with blue brick dentils at the recess top, and cream scroll-shaped bricks beneath the projecting roof eaves.

The south-east elevation is largely concealed by the ancillary building, though internal photographs reveal a very large double door beneath an arch, flanked by round-arched windows matching those of the north-west elevation. The tower elevation features a large recessed panel with two tall round-arched windows with metal glazing bars dividing them into eight lights, topped by blue brick dentils. The cream brick eaves detail continues here.

The south-west elevation, the tower front, has a lean-to corrugated metal sheet roof attached at first-floor level. A centrally positioned round-arched single doorway sits below, and above it a large recessed panel contains three blind round-arched windows with blue brick dentils, interrupted at the base by a large blind round-arched opening directly above the door. The cream scroll-shaped brick course persists beneath the eaves. A slight return from the engine house to the tower carries the gable roof end with a kneeler supported by a cream scrolled corbel.

The ancillary building runs flat-roofed at its single-storey north-eastern end, transitioning to a pitched roof at the taller south-western gable. The gable features a central round-arched window with metal glazing bars dividing rectangular lights, topped by a decorative blue brick course. The gable pediment displays a stepped brick design.

The interior was not inspected, but available sources indicate a tall single-storey space open to a steel-framed roof.