Keeper's Accomodation, Skadan Lighthouse, Fair Isle

Keeper's Accommodation, Skadan Lighthouse, Fair Isle

This lighthouse complex on Fair Isle was designed by David and Charles Stevenson in 1891, with an accommodation block added in 1948. The entire complex sits within a rectangular boundary wall and comprises a principal building with a 4-stage tower to the rear (south), a fog horn house centred to the south, an accommodation block to the north, and various outbuildings along the west wall. A 19th-century former semaphore signal stands on a hill to the north, and a late 19th-century former lifeboat house sits at the shore to the east. The buildings and tower are constructed of harled and painted brick and concrete.

Principal Building

The principal building is a single-storey structure with 11 bays (grouped 2-7-2) in near-symmetrical form, with offices and a 4-stage tower centred to the rear. The structure has a concrete base course and wallhead cope with projecting cills to windows.

The north (entrance) elevation features a principal entrance door in the centre bay with an oval datestone and lighthouse armorial panel rising into a stepped wallhead centred above and flanked by brick pilasters. Three closely-spaced and regularly-fenestrated bays stand to the right, while three closely-spaced bays occupy the left side. A wide segmental arch appears in the left bay, with segmental-arched doors and windows in the penultimate and outer bays respectively on both sides. A raised wallhead rises over the centre bays.

The side elevations are symmetrical with regularly-fenestrated 2-bay elevations. The south elevation and tower comprise a 5-bay symmetrical elevation with the tower projecting from the centre bay and regular fenestration in the flanking bays.

The 4-stage tower features a circular concrete plinth at its base, a battered shaft with string courses between each stage, and narrow 2-pane fixed-lights with long and short dressings at the 1st and 2nd stages on the south, the 2nd and 3rd stages on the north, and the 3rd stage on the east. Cast-iron brackets support a balcony with cast-iron handrail around the upper stage, comprising a cylindrical murette with portholes and a door. A cast-iron cleaning path runs around the lantern with triangular-paned glazing, surmounted by a dome with an arrow vane to vent.

Accommodation Block

The accommodation block is a 2-storey structure of 9 bays (grouped 3-3-3) in symmetrical form, serving as staff quarters of traditional design. The walls are harled with concrete and brick dressings, all painted, with a base course and painted cills to windows.

The south (entrance) elevation features a piend-roofed single-storey porch with 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber doors on each side projecting at centre, with bipartite windows centred above at ground and 1st floors in the flanking bays. Symmetrical 3-bay groups occupy the outer left and right, comprising narrow windows to ground and 1st floor at centre with regular fenestration in flanking bays.

The east elevation has a 2-storey porch with a dog-leg concrete external stair leading to a vertically-boarded timber door in the south side. Windows appear at each floor on the east side, vertically-boarded timber doors at ground level in the re-entrant at right, and at the outer right with a window centred above.

The north (rear) elevation is a 6-bay symmetrical elevation with bipartite windows at ground and 1st floors in the centre 4 bays and regular fenestration in bays to the outer left and right. The west elevation mirrors the east elevation.

The accommodation block has 12 and 6-pane timber sash and case windows. The shallow-pitched roof is clad with corrugated sheet and features bracketed block skewputts, bracketed metal box gutters, and cast-iron downpipes.

Outbuildings

A single-storey, flat-roofed outbuilding features a base course, eaves course, and margined openings. Its asymmetrical courtyard elevation comprises a wide 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door offset to the right of centre, a 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door to the left and a window to the outer left, a 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door to the outer right with a window adjacent to the left.

Former toilets and petrol store form a single-storey, 4-bay structure, with vertically-boarded timber doors featuring rectangular fanlights in each bay and a monopitch roof.

The fog horn house is a shuttered concrete 2-stage tower comprising a hexagonal lower stage with a 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door in the north face and 6-pane fixed-lights, corbelled out to a semicircular upper stage (now fitted with modern horns installed in 1996).

A bollard-like cast-iron plinth once supported a sundial on a square stone base, though the sundial has now been removed.

Boundary Walls and Associated Structures

The boundary walls are coped cement-rendered and whitewashed battered rubble, with the south wall articulated in semi-octagonal form around the horn house. Square gatepiers have pyramidal caps.

On the hill to the north stands a 19th-century former timber semaphore signal comprising paired uprights clasping a pin-jointed beam.

The former lifeboat house at the shore to the east is a symmetrical gabled structure with a vertically-boarded timber round-arched door centring the east gable and 8-pane timber sash and case windows in 2-bay side elevations. The walls are harled with a modern corrugated sheet roof. An open timber stair leads to a gallery at the west end of the interior. A cast-iron winch stands at the beach to the east.