Pumping Station (Building No 500), Rosyth Dockyard

Pumping Station, Rosyth Dockyard

A single-storey pumping station with false attic and concealed basement, designed by Messrs Easton Gibb and Son Ltd of Westminster for the Royal Navy and built between 1910 and 1915. The building comprises a rectangular-plan main block with lower-height single-storey sections to the north and west.

The design displays early 20th-century classical freestyle architecture, characterised by pilastered elevations, a frieze with moulded cornice along the eaves, and arched and lunette windows, some featuring keystones. Large pitched rooflights pierce the roofline. The walls are constructed of coursed rockfaced sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings, incorporating a base course, partial ground floor cill band, and eaves course continued as a band course across the gables. Pilasters are positioned at the arrises.

The south elevation features a large segmental-headed entrance with keystone positioned left of centre to the main block, with a multi-pane fanlight and replacement door. Flanking bays (two to the left, three to the right) contain mullioned bipartite windows with lunettes above; each bay is slightly recessed beneath the lunette with concave moulded voussoirs. A wide lower-height single-storey bay adjoins to the left, containing a large entrance with segmental-headed fanlight and keystone.

The north elevation includes a single-storey projecting section (bunkers) with three large blocked segmental-headed openings to the left, each with keystone and moulded concave voussoirs, one to the right, and a blocked round-arched opening with keystone to the outer right.

The east elevation comprises two gabled sections with shouldered gables. Both feature central lunettes with tripartite keystones at the gable head, flanked by pilaster strips with carved niches at the apex. The right section projects and contains a large inserted entrance positioned below the lunette and to the right, with a standard entrance to the left. The left section is wider and set back, with two inner bays containing blocked or partially blocked segmental-headed openings with keystones, divided by a pilaster strip. High segmental-headed windows with keystones and moulded concave voussoirs occupy the outer flanking bays. A pair of cylindrical riveted domed water tanks stand at the junction between the two gabled sections. A round-arched window with keystone lights the single-storey bunker section to the outer right of the main block.

The west elevation mirrors the east in its two shouldered gabled sections, each with central lunettes, tripartite keystones, flanking pilaster strips, and carved niches at the apex. The gable of the right section is set back slightly, and a projecting flat-roofed ground-floor section supports a large metal tank with four regularly disposed windows below. A large inserted entrance occupies the left of the ground floor to the left section. A round-arched window with keystone lights the single-storey bunker section to the outer left (partially obscured by a late 20th-century brick addition).

Windows throughout are predominantly multi-pane fixed timber frames with opening vents and some multi-pane casements. The main block is roofed in grey slate with valley details; each section features a long raised rooflight with pitched grey slate roof. Three large cylindrical metal stacks rise from the centre of the main block.

The interior is open to the roof with steel-framed roof trusses. The boiler house occupies the north section; the pump house occupies the south. The original steam pumps have been replaced by gas-fired pumps, and the boilers have also been replaced. A brown glazed tiled dado runs along the ground floor. Large riveted subterranean pipes descend from the pump house towards the base level of the dry docks.