The story behind 3 of Dundee's tiniest and most beautiful buildings

The Courier

22-05-2025

Dundee has several tiny buildings whose beauty and architectural merit are out of all proportion to their size.
These days small, functional structures are built without any thought to being pleasing to the eye. But in the 19th and early 20th Centuries real effort and vision was put into even the littlest of buildings.
We've identified three such mini architectural marvels in Dundee and found out as much as we can about them.
Two turreted buildings face onto Clepington Road and guard the entrance to Stobsmuir Reservoir.
They were commissioned by Dundee Water Works in 1845 and completed in 1848 before being rebuilt by David Baxter in 1908.
The towers form part of a category B listed structure that includes the castellated stone boundary walls and turrets.
The left hand tower was built as a valve room and has the Dundee Water Works and 1845/1908 inscribed on it. The neighbouring structure was a chart room and bears Dundee's coat of arms above its door.
Both have nail studded timber doors set within architraves and flanked by blind slit windows.
The site sits adjacent to Stobsmuir Ponds – affectionately known as Swannie Ponds – and formed part of the Monikie Reservoirs scheme.
High walls mean there's no view of the reservoir itself and if you look on Google Earth it appears there is just a large expanse of grass within the walls.
However, the reservoir is still there and is still working. It has been covered by a concrete roof with turf on top for safety and security.
Underneath the roof there's a holding tank for treated water which supplies the docks and Dundee City Centre.
It is one of the oldest Scottish reservoirs still in operation.
Scottish Water previously owned the old tram depot behind the reservoir but sold the site to Dundee Museum of Transport in 2014.
Guarding the road up to Dundee's Law is this small but doughty water tower.
As is the case with the towers at Stobsmuir Reservoir, the structure is category B listed. It was also designed by David Baxter and is modelled after a traditional doocot.
The two-storey structure has windows on all four sides and a pyramid slate roof.
Dating from 1920 it formed part of the Stirling district heating system. This was built to serve new housing schemes in Logie, Hospital Park, and Stirling Park, which between them contained more than 500 new homes.
The system worked in a similar manner to a coal-powered engine. The tower fed water to a coal-fired station on Wishart Street.
The station heated large quantities of water which was then piped through insulated lines to heat homes.
Perhaps the most beautiful of the three buildings we've looked at is Clepington Sluice Chamber.
Built in 1873 for the Dundee Water Commissioners, it is essentially a mini-castle. The single storey building has an octagonal shape with a cylindrical turret at its western end.
Inside there are six original geared sluice valves made by Glenfield and Co Ltd in Kilmarnock, a pressure recorder by George Kent, and gauges by Schaffer and Bunderberg. These serve three underground pipes.
Clepington Sluice Chamber belongs to Scottish Water who confirmed it is still in use today, containing several strategic valves that are essential to the water distribution network.
It's impossible to imagine three such wonderful buildings being commissioned today.
Do you know anything more about these buildings or are there other tiny, beautiful buildings we've overlooked? Let us know in the comments below.