Caldrum Works, St Salvador Street, Dundee

Caldrum Works, dating from 1872 and opened in 1873, is a large jute spinning, weaving, and finishing complex located on St Salvador Street, Dundee. The works were extended towards Main Street between 1887 and 1890. The building exhibits a mix of single- and two-story elements, with the St Salvador Street frontage being two stories high.

The main building is constructed of rubble with slate roofs, and demonstrates a functional industrial aesthetic. The St Salvador Street elevation features a single-story calender section characterized by three piended, double-pitched roofs and a visible original loading door. Adjacent is a two-story, three-bay office with bipartite sash and case windows, the original office door now replaced with a window. Wallhead stacks are present. A series of four large gatepiers, constructed of dentil-corniced ashlar and featuring ornate wrought-iron gates, were added in 1887. A later boardroom, built in 1912, is distinguished by three keyblocked ashlar segmental arches supporting a first-floor level with a central triple window flanked by bipartite windows, a corniced parapet and a piended roof. A two-story, fifteen-bay former bag factory extends to the east, constructed between 1887 and 1890 with three bays added beyond a fire-barrier wall in 1915. This section incorporates ten-pane top-hopper windows, set beneath a piended slate roof.

The Glamis Street elevation consists of a long (480-foot) blank rubble wall with a higher parapet forming the side wall of the original 1872 factory and a lower parapet serving as the boundary to the calender section and a factory extension. A taller starch house at the northwest corner has been largely replaced by polypropylene silos. The Main Street elevation's parapet steps down to reflect the hillside slope, and three loading doors are visible. Twelve piended roofs, punctuated by two fire barrier walls, divide the factory into eastern, central, and western sections; specifically an eastern batching bay, a central five spinning bays, and a western six weaving bays.

Behind the St Salvador Street frontage is a loading bay accessed from the west, with an ornate wrought-iron roof above a wide central doorway and flanking arched entrances. A two-story mechanics shop extends to the north; a three-bay section with a blocked arched door, which formerly served as a subsidiary engine house. Paired entrances lead to the factory and West Mill. Two engine houses are located on site, one original from 1872 and a larger replacement dating to circa 1900. A wrought-iron staircase connects to a large blocked window of the earlier engine house, and ascends to the later, more substantial engine house. The ground floor of the mill features a central segmental arched doorway flanked by a window to the east and a door to the west. Two large roundheaded windows, each with a wooden mullion creating a bipartite sash and case with a fanlight, are also present. A high band course runs along all four sides of the building. The eastern elevation is blank.

The West Mill and Factory interiors feature twelve long bays, running approximately 370 feet north to south, with angled wooden roofs to the east and skylights on both sides. Bay spans vary from 27 to 36 feet, reflecting the original lengths of machinery. The structure is supported by rows of 34 cast-iron columns spaced at 11-foot intervals, with brackets designed to carry shafting. Large cast-iron wall boxes with projecting brackets for the main driving shaft and level gears are present at the south wall (shafting now removed). Original dividing walls remain. The calender at the southwest corner features three 36-foot span wooden roofs supported by two rows of nine iron columns. Original cornices and staircases are preserved in the office, with some new partitions added. The former Bag-Sewing Department is characterized by a wooden first floor supported by a single row of cast-iron columns, and a timber roof.