Logie Works, 205 Brook Street, Dundee

Logie Works, 205 Brook Street, Dundee

A large flaxmill of Grade A importance, probably designed by Umpherston and Kerr and built in 1828, with extensions to the west in 1833 and further additions to the north range and west wing and tower by 1839. The complex is arranged around a U-plan court and constructed primarily of rubble masonry with extensive internal iron framing.

The South Range facing Brook Street forms the main mill block: a four-storey building with attic, twenty-one bays wide, positioned between two engine houses. The principal elevation features three-storey sections with segmental arched tripartite windows with anta pilaster mullions. A canted five-bay section at the east end accommodates ground floor boilers with an upper floor added between 1833 and 1839. The windows are three-paned top hoppers throughout, except for some blocked openings at ground floor level and in the tripartite and west sections which are sash and case. The building has an eaves band course and a steeply pitched slate roof, piended at the east end and gabled at the west with long skylights running the length. A party wall with the base of a bellcote separates the five westernmost bays. The east elevation is asymmetrical with four bays, featuring a first-floor hoist door and corniced parapet. The west elevation is gabled and includes a seven-storey stair tower rising to the north, with single windows at the level of the engine house. The tower contains windows at the third floor and attic levels, plus a small sash and case window in the gable. The tower was built in stages: the 1828 stairs are lit by three sash and case windows; the 1830s added a recessed toilet block with arched pend connecting the mill to the west range; the top three storeys, built in the 1830s, feature a broad-eaved Italianate roof with two-by three-bay proportions.

The north elevation spans twenty-six bays. The four-bay east section is arcaded at ground floor for boilers. Tripartite windows appear to the west. The engine house at first floor is blocked with a stair, partially removed to allow access to the first floor of the east section, as the engine prevented circulation within the mill. A second-floor corbelled balcony with wrought-iron rail similarly allows access beyond the engine house to the east section and is linked by a wrought-iron foot-bridge to the north range. The main mill body, twenty-one bays, mirrors the south elevation with blocked ground-floor windows and some later openings.

The North Range, dating to circa 1833–1836, was purpose-built for storing, sorting, preparing and hackling flax. Its south elevation displays three storeys and attic across eighteen bays, with several doors at ground floor and first and second-floor windows mostly of multi-paned sash and case, some incorporating hoist doors and foot-bridges to the mill. Three second-floor windows have cills altered for hand hackling fans. Small blind windows appear at third-floor level. The slate roof is less steeply pitched than the mill, with skylights. The east elevation has three bays with a ground-floor door, blind windows at the centre of the first and second floors and all three windows at the third floor, and a parapet. A wall with a door to an office (roof later altered) links the north range to a large stone corniced gate pier. The north elevation extends three storeys and attic across nineteen bays, with the ground floor sunk at the west due to the hill, allowing loading at two levels. Four original loading bays are at first floor; small blind windows appear at third floor.

The West Range, built by 1839, links the north range to the mill. It is three storeys and attic with ground floor below street level, extending eleven bays. First-floor windows are multi-paned sash and case; second-floor windows are blocked; third-floor windows are blind. The yard elevation comprises seven bays with the wall carried on stout iron columns at ground floor. The first and second floors have glazed windows; the third floor has blind windows with a small parapet at the centre. The slate roof continues the pattern.

The interior is entirely iron-framed and brick-arched except for the attics. The mill contains two rows of iron columns bolted at ground floor, carrying cast-iron beams, brick arches and wrought-iron ties, with evidence of gearing and mounting points for steam engines. The attic has a wooden queen-post roof. The north range is narrower and columnless; brick arches rest on cast-iron beams supported by iron members built into the walls at second-floor level. Numerous iron trapdoors, hoists and chutes facilitate the sorting of flax. The roof is a plastered wooden collar-beam design with wrought-iron ties. The west range has two ground-floor columns carrying a small stone arcade at its centre to strengthen the structure; some unusual columns thicken at the base. At first and second-floor levels, a single row of iron columns carries brick arches with wrought-iron ties and supports a tall open wooden collar-beam roof with wrought-iron ties. The complex contains three stone staircases and one cast-iron spiral stair, with a modern stair inserted in the west range. The courtyard is cobbled.