Glenlee Power Station

Glenlee Power Station is a three-storey, roughly four-bay rectangular-plan hydroelectric power station built in 1934. Designed by consulting engineer Sir Alexander Gibb, with electrical engineers Merz and McLellan, and E M Carmichael of the Office of Public Works, it exemplifies the Classical Modern style characteristic of 1930s industrial architecture.

The building is constructed of painted reinforced concrete with a prominent gridded arrangement of small-pane windows. The façade features recessed eaves and a recessed parapet above. A lugged doorway surround is inscribed "GLENLEE POWER STATION 1934". The gridded fenestration is varied: tripartite and single-bay windows to the centre bays, and bipartite windows to the flanking bays, all set in recessed surrounds. The rear elevation includes regular fenestration of small-pane rectangular windows to the lower block and a large off-centre doorway fitted with a timber-panelled roller door.

The interior comprises predominantly a single open space containing a large roller crane on a steel gantry. Offices to the left (south-east) include later alterations that formed a control room for the Galloway Scheme.

A reinforced concrete twin-arched bridge spans the tailrace, with a plain concrete parapet.

Glenlee is a significant example of a hydroelectric power station and formed part of phase one of the influential Galloway Hydroelectric Scheme. The station utilises water from a separate catchment created by Clatteringshaws Dam, which subsequently feeds into Loch Ken and onwards to Tongland. The Galloway scheme represented an important technological achievement and the first successful large-scale application of run-of-the-river technology in Scotland.

The architectural design fuses the engineering requirements of a large commercial power station with understated modernist-classical principles. Clean lines and minimal articulation are characteristic of the modern style, while the stark roofline and rhythmic façade articulation express the dynamic attitude towards hydroelectricity prevalent at the time.

The Galloway scheme predates the 1943 Hydroelectric (Scotland) Act, which subsequently formalised hydroelectric development in Scotland and led to the founding of the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board. As an early privately-developed scheme, the Galloway development was groundbreaking in achieving high-quality aesthetic and engineering design without a national strategic policy framework. The scheme's completion required parliamentary safeguards on landscape and amenity, necessitating the high-quality design of both power stations and dams. These conditions proved influential in the drafting of the 1943 Act, where visual impact became a primary concern for future schemes.

Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners was a pioneering engineering company founded in 1921, becoming the UK's largest consulting engineering firm with numerous international clients. Gibb was personally involved in designing and constructing the Galloway scheme, and its pioneering nature was substantially due to his engineering abilities. Merz and McLellan were pioneering British electrical engineers who developed a high-profile practice working on power stations across Britain.