Dundee Rope Works Tar House, 11 Step Row, Dundee is a Grade B listed building in the Dundee City local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 30 June 1989.
Dundee Rope Works Tar House, 11 Step Row, Dundee
- WRENN ID
- solitary-chancel-birch
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Dundee City
- Constituency
- Dundee Central MP: Chris Law (SNP)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 30 June 1989
- OS grid reference
- NO 389 296
- Coordinates
- 56.45543, -2.99214
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Dundee Rope Works Tar House, dating to around 1815-1820, is a two-storey building connected to the historic Dundee Ropeworks. Constructed of rubble, it represents industrial vernacular architecture.
The east gable features a large ground floor doorway with a steel lintel – originally segmental arched – and a small window to the side. The first floor has a loading door and a sash and case window. An attic opening provided access for a timber hoist with a pulley, and rings suggest the presence of a flagpole. The gable is topped with skew putts and a flat-topped finial. The west gable is similar, with a blocked segmental arch and an attic hoist opening.
The south elevation includes two ground floor doors, two windows, and two wide segmental arched openings, some of which are now partially blocked. The first floor features eight 12-pane sash and case windows, one of which has been altered to accommodate an overhead gangway. The north elevation displays three ground floor and seven blocked first floor windows. The bases of three wallhead stacks, likely used for boiling tar, are still visible.
The building has historically been linked to the Dundee Rope Works of A and H Buick. While a section of Bell’s Rope Walk survives with a corrugated-iron roof, it is not included in this listing. The main portion of the Dundee Rope Works has been demolished. Records from Woods' 1821 map identify the structure as “Tar Work Mr Bell,” and further details can be found in local directories.
Local climate
Dundee Rope Works Tar House, 11 Step Row, Dundee receives an average of 910 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 69% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 82% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 53 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 94% of listed buildings. Of these, 28 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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