Balgay Linen Works, 127 South Road, Dundee

The Balgay Linen Works, located at 127 South Road, Dundee, is a complex of buildings dating from circa 1860-64, originally constructed as a power loom factory. A calender was added in 1871, and a new front was added in 1911 by Thoms and Wilkie following a conversion to a cabinet factory. The elevation to South Road comprises an 11-bay office and showroom, a gatepiers, and a smaller building to the west. It is primarily brick-built with ashlar detailing.

The showroom features a central, pilastered, segmental pedimented doorpiece, with five windows on either side set within shallow, arched recessed panels. Ashlar keystones and an impost-level string course are present, along with a mutule cornice. The roof is piended, swept with slate, pierced by seven piended dormers. A brick-built stack with dentil cornicing is also visible. The rear is of plain brick with irregular fenestration, a wallhead stack, and similar dormers. A small single-storey projection to the right has lunettes and a saw-pit, while a smaller single-storey and attic block sits to the left. The facade includes two wide, recessed bays under a coved string course, three large metal-framed top-hopper windows to the left, and three small, segmental arched windows to the right. Two square section gatepiers with ashlar, domed caps connect the two blocks.

To the right of the office is a brick-built, single-storey facade of four bipartit bays added in 1911 to the 1871 calender house. The elevation to the yard is of rubble construction. A taller, two-storey brick-built block stands to the right, featuring a two-bay street elevation within tall, recessed arches.

The east elevation consists of a two-storey brick-built block to the left with large square windows. To the right are 1860s rubble-built walls, two and one-storey gables, and a high parapet to the weaving shed. The west elevation of the weaving shed is brick-built with a saw-toothed design.

Timber seasoning sheds, with timber frames and corrugated iron cladding, are located to the west.

The weaving shed has a single-storey and attic rubble-built south elevation facing the yard. Seven narrow-span, lean-to, north-lit sheds extend to the rear.

The factory interior features cast-iron columns bracketed to support overhead shafting from a drive shaft on one-section cast-iron stanchions (the shafting is now missing). The southern span is wider, and the attic is constructed with timber collar beams. The office interior contains a panelled vestibule with glazed double doors. Stained glass vignettes depicting Dundee's town house, St Mary’s church, and an Egyptian furniture-maker are present alongside a shallow relief plaster ceiling and original light fittings. The showroom has been modernised.