Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Glasgow, Polmadie, 61-89 Jessie Street, Sentinel Works

Office (20th Century), Pattern Store (20th Century)

Site Name Glasgow, Polmadie, 61-89 Jessie Street, Sentinel Works

Classification Office (20th Century), Pattern Store (20th Century)

Canmore ID 82480

Site Number NS56SE 146

NGR NS 59666 62502

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/82480

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

Toggle Aerial | View on large map

Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Glasgow, City Of
  • Parish Govan (City Of Glasgow)
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District City Of Glasgow
  • Former County Lanarkshire

Recording Your Heritage Online

Sentinel Works, 61 Jessie Street, 1903, Brand & Lithgow, with Archibald Leitch, engineer

Four-storey clear-span patternmaking shop and offices for Alley & MacLellan, engineers. The earliest reinforced concrete building in Glasgow, using the Mouchel-Hennebique ferro-concrete system. Concrete panel walls with classical cornice, large metal windows and flat roof, anticipating the Modern Movement. Cantilevered rear fire escape stair carried on ornate cast-iron brackets. A disgraceful shell, derelict since the 1960s and at risk from continuing vandalism.

Taken from "Greater Glasgow: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Sam Small, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Archaeology Notes

NS56SE 146 59666 62502

Works [NAT]

OS (GIS) MasterMap, September 2009.

Site Management (23 February 1994)

Early ferro-concrete pattern store, built on the Hennebique system. Built 1903-1904 for Alley and MacLellan, engineers. 4 storeys, 12 x 3 bays; concrete panel walls, large metal-framed windows, off-centre entrance bay, wide door with 3 tall lights over added circa 1930; classical cornice, flat roof. REAR: similar, with fire escape cantilevered out on ornate cast-iron brackets. INTERIOR: free of columns, the load entirely carried by the externally expressed frame. Top floor has extra concrete cross pieces to accommodate shelves of pattern store.

The first fully reinforced concrete building having a ferro-concrete frame and panels, and the third oldest to survive in the UK. This building's trabeated form anticipates the American-inspired daylight factories by Albert Kahn, unlike any similar building in England. The foundry to the rear is steel framed and of lesser architectural interest. A light railway was used within the foundry. Alley and MacLellan built around 500 'knock down' ships (dismantled and reassembled on inland waters) and developed the Sentinel steam lorry, produced at their branches at Shrewsbury and Worcester. Owned form 1918-37 by Beardmores, and passed to the Weir Group in 1960. (Historic Scotland)

Alley & MacLellan was an engineering firm formed in 1875 by Stephen Alley and John MacLellan. Their Sentinel Engineering Works opened in London Road but soon moved to Polmadie. The firm developed the Sentinel trademark, which they used to brand a wide range of engineering products for use on land and at sea. (Glasgow Museums)

Activities

Desk Based Assessment (11 August 2011)

A desk based assessment of this building was made by RCAHMS Threatened Building Survey as part of a thematic study of early examples of concrete buildings.

The site will be prioritised for a field visit by TBS staff.

References

MyCanmore Image Contributions


Contribute an Image

MyCanmore Text Contributions