Hydro-Electric Engine House At Castle Drogo

The hydro-electric engine house at Castle Drogo was built in the 1920s by Sir Edwin Lutyens to provide electricity for the house. It is a small, single-storey concrete building with a steeply pitched roof, originally thatched, now covered in corrugated metal. The building sits in the valley of the River Teign and receives water via a pipeline leading to screening tanks, then under pressure to the turbines within. The east elevation features a plank double door with a light casement, and a further casement window is on the north elevation, overlooking a stepped outflow sluice and sluice gate. Screening tanks extend to the west.

Inside, the interior is open to the roof, revealing boarded common rafters. Original equipment remains, including a Crompton turbine, a Gilkes governor, a generator, and a distribution board, along with the machine base and conduit for a second turbine. The two turbines were designed for alternating use, one operating during summer and the other in winter.

Castle Drogo itself was a country house designed by Lutyens for Julius Drewe, with work commencing in 1911 and continuing until 1930. The turbine house is located to the southeast of the main house, along the south bank of the River Teign. The engine house is notable for its deliberate use of vernacular architectural elements within a small industrial building and is a complete example of a private electricity generation scheme from the 1920s. It has group value with Castle Drogo, the stables and the designed landscape.