Electricity Substation, Victoria Road, Kirkcaldy

This is a two-story, five-bay, rectangular former electricity generating station constructed in 1901 by William Williamson, and subsequently extended in 1909, 1912, and 1922. The building is classically detailed and built of rusticated ashlar with polished dressings and channelled quoin strips; squared and snecked rubble is used on the east side, while brick is apparent on the west and north.

The principal south elevation features lower bays in the centre with three broad elliptical arched windows with keystones at ground level. A blocked door with a deep fanlight sits between bays three and four. There are tripartite windows above, with smaller windows placed between them. An advanced bay to the outer right contains a broad, keystoned doorcase with a two-leaf, part-glazed timber door and decorative astragals, flanked by part-glazed screens and a plate glass fanlight. The first floor features round-headed, keystoned windows, with a panelled apron and a semicircular pediment above. A taller shaped gable to the outer left includes flanking upright scrolls and three keystoned, round-headed windows at the second stage, with a louvered oculus in the gablehead.

The east elevation presents two broad gabled bays; the bay to the left has a door at ground level beneath a tall round-headed window at the second stage, with a bipartite window to the left and another window to the right. An advanced bay to the right has doors at ground level (centre and left) and a large opening to the right. The second stage has two tall, boarded round-headed windows, a blind oculus to the left, and a shaped gablehead.

The north elevation has bays to the left featuring seven round-headed windows and dividing pilasters, and a full-width ridge ventilator. A projecting wing to the right has a wide sliding door at ground level, three blinded round-headed windows at the second stage, and a glazed oculus in the raised centre of the gablehead.

The west elevation is characterized by an almost full-height lean-to extension made of corrugated iron on a brick base.

The roof is covered in grey slate and asbestos. The building’s stacks are of cavetto-coped ashlar, with polygonal cans and ashlar-coped skews.

The interior includes a west gallery lined with polychrome, enamel glazed bricks on the south and east sides. The east gallery also has an eight-arch blind arcade. A mobile crane is currently in situ.