Mills Observatory, Balgay Park, Dundee

1935, James MacLellan Brown. Single storey, cruciform-plan observatory with 2-storey drum tower to centre. Red bull-faced sandstone with ashlar margins, papier-mache dome. Base course, eaves course, projecting cornice. Regular fenestration.

Centrally planned single storey, octagonal central core terminating in ashlar blocked parapets, smaller attic storey octagonal drum rising to centre, polymer paint coated papier-mache dome. 2-leaf, glazed timber entrance door to centre flanked by narrow windows. Single storey, 4-bay advanced wing to left terminating in blocked cast-iron balustrade, flat-roofed viewing area. 2-storey, 3-bay advanced stairtower to right, canted end bay with tall stair windows.

Rectangular bronze commemorative plaque on white marble mount in lobby; stylised scrolled scallop pediment to centre, mitred border and square bosses to corner bearing astrological symbols, inscribed: MILLS OBSERVATORY; 1935; JOHN MILLS, MANUFACTURER, DUNDEE, DIRECTED THAT HIS ESTATE SHOULD BE DEVOTED TO THE PROVISION OF A BUILDING EQUIPPED WITH ASTRONOMICAL AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS SUITABLE FOR THE STUDY OF THE WONDER AND BEAUTY OF THE WORKS OF GOD IN CREATION. THIS OBSERVATORY HAS ACCORDINGLY BEEN ERECTED, EQUIPPED AND ENDOWED BY HIS TRUSTEES

Timber frame, plate glass, sash and case windows. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: terrazzo floor to lobby, glazed timber double doors through to octagonal centre room; parquet flooring, timber box seating fitted to central pier. Small education room to rear, glazed timber double doors to right leading to stairwell. Sun burst patterned Art Deco cast-iron railings to stairs. Low ceiling to 2nd storey central room, painted pine boarded walls and ceiling, pier to centre with fitted bent wood benching, timber door to left opens to large, paved roof terrace with decorative period cast-iron railings. Narrow curved stairs to 3rd storey observation deck within dome. Telescope mount to centre, rotation of dome and opening of aperture operated by original wheel and cog system including canvas screen hoisted to cover lower part of aperture in poor weather.

The present principal (fixed) telescope was installed at the observatory by St Andrews University in 1951 replacing the original 18 inch Newtonian was only capable of photographic work and therefore unsuitable for the observatory's intended use as a public facility. The present telescope itself is an 1871, 10 inch refracting fixed telescope by Thomas Cooke & Son, York previously owned by Walter Goodacre, president of the British Astronomical Association and previously located at Four Marks Observatory, Winchester before its purchase by St Andrews University on Goodacre's death in 1938.