Subway Power Station, 187 Scotland Street, Glasgow

The Subway Power Station, located at 187 Scotland Street, Glasgow, was designed by John Gordon, with engineering input from Simpson and Wilson and D Home Morton, and constructed in 1895. The complex comprises several buildings, including a superintendent's house, workshops, a Tension Run, an Engine Hall, and a Boiler House.

The front facade, facing the street, is a one-storey, two-bay structure built of moulded brick with ashlar dressings. Two wide bays flank prominent pilasters that rise through the parapet. These pilasters are punctuated by basket arched openings, providing access to workshops to the west and a window facing the Tension Run to the east. The Tension Run window has three mullions featuring ornate carving and a transom with depictions of mythological beasts. A dentil cornice runs along the top, and a parapet caps the facade.

The superintendent's house is a two-storey, three-bay brick building also with ashlar dressings. It features a scrolled pedimented doorway with an urn embellishment. Sash and case windows are present, with a dentil cornice and a parapet mirroring the main facade's style. Four tall stacks rise from the roof, distinguished by vertical strips and stepped, corbelled tops. The roof is slate-covered.

Behind the main building, running north to south, are two long, parallel structures. The western building served as workshops, including facilities for splicing cables. The eastern building, the Tension Run, is 193 feet long and 33 feet wide, now partitioned. Originally, carriages ran the length of this space to regulate cable slack. Internal and external walls are pilastered, with a semi-circular window in every other bay. A cast-iron stanchion at the southern end supported a pulley system used to carry cables from the Engine Hall to the Tension Run. The Tension Run is covered by a steel-tie roof. The Engine Hall is a large, twin-gabled building with two semi-circular windows in the north gables. The south gables are linked by a parapet featuring windows, one of which also has a semi-circular window. The side walls are pilastered and punctuated by large, semi-circular, multi-paned windows. Recessed panels sit above a corbelled string course, and a cornice tops the building. A modern roof now covers the Engine Hall. The interior features two aisles, separated by four cast-iron H-section stanchions that support a steel beam for a travelling crane and steel trellice uprights. Pilasters line the side walls, complemented by rails for a travelling crane and smaller pilasters above. Each aisle previously housed a steam engine and pulley drives. A tunnel leads underground. The Boiler House is linked to the Engine Hall via a large arch.

A pedimented gable on the south side incorporates a semi-circular window above arched windows and pilasters. A new, wider entrance has been formed. To the east, a coal store and water tank have been altered, but cast-iron stanchions that once supported the tank and some rails for coal wagons remain. The interior of the coal store and tank area is a single wide aisle with pilastered and corbelled walls, and a lower roof than the Engine Hall.