Project Updates: St Peter's Seminary

[DickyHart]

wouldnt it be great if the could host the return of "alien war" at st petes...
it could never happen coz of health and safety though

[tobester]

Was up there again today, and there were 4 others in there, one of them said he used to be there years ago training, my amazing who you meet up there.

Only thing i wish i had done was to ask if i couldv'e taken their picture for on here, ach well hindsight and all that.

Anyhoo, i also went over to where the house was, to snap the abandoned car, i reckon it'll fail its next MOT



what do you think

[Mori]

BD Online

St Peter’s Seminary owner presses for firm proposal

Developer Urban Splash is considering a bid to save one of the most important modernist buildings in Scotland, St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross.

The firm, which has recently begun work on the redevelopment of grade II* listed Parkhill estate redevelopment in Sheffield, confirmed this week it was “really interested” in acquiring the grade A listed building, which earlier this year was placed on the World Monument Fund’s watch list of the planet’s 100 most endangered sites (News June 15 ).

The 1960s building by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia — which will feature in an exhibition on the firm at Glasgow’s Lighthouse architecture centre next month — has been derelict since the 1980s and is the subject of a conservation study by Avanti Architects. It is expected to recommend the buildings are given a new use.

But the Archdiocese of Glasgow, which owns the building, warned that similar proposals in the past had foundered, and called on the developer to make a firm offer.

[nodrog]

Detailed conservation statement with lots of historical goodies in the Appendices....

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/ind ... report.htm

[govanboay]

good reading there, Hope that they manage something for this place.


paul.

[gap74]

Popped by yesterday again. Firstly - the wee Victorian gatehouse has been demolished, bastards!

EDIT: Just checked, and this was separately B-listed, anyone know if, when and why listed building consent was made to demolish this?

http://hsewsf.sedsh.gov.uk/hslive/porta ... HBNUM=6685



Secondly, whilst I was always hopeful that the concrete superstructure was still relatively intact, there was evidence that this may not be the case for much longer....

[cheesemonster]

Popped by yesterday again. Firstly - the wee Victorian gatehouse has been demolished, bastards!

EDIT: Just checked, and this was separately B-listed, anyone know if, when and why listed building consent was made to demolish this?

Indeed, I noticed it had been demolished when I was there on October 19th.
The gatehouse at the other entrance however is still standing but is in an awful state. Mykitten has pics.

[gap74]

Yeah, I wandered out the other way and saw the other gatehouse, seems kinda strange that the grander and more intact of the two was the one that was demolished!

I've checked on Argyll and Bute's online planning portal and there's no sign of an application to demolish there, but being a remote location without a standard address, it's hard to pin down on a database, so I've emailed them to ask when and why permission to demolish was granted.

[Digitographer]

Having always been desperate to visit St Peters, I finally took a trip to Cardross this morning. The place was fairly easy to find; I walked up Carman Road and saw what I guessed was the entrance, a large fence on the left of the road, past the golf course, with a few thoughtfully placed large gaps at either side. Then it was a walk up through the woods, following the path. By this point I thought I was (literally) on the wrong track until I finally turned a corner and there it was.

Going inside was, initially at least, a bit creepy - primarily because I had no idea who or what I might find there. As it turned out, in the several hours I was there, I didn't see another soul, living or dead. No neds, jakies or yoof teams to be found anywhere. Thankfully. The real concern was the state of the place - what a mess! My footing was very careful the entire time, for fear of going through a floor. As noted elsewhere, the concrete facade is not as solid as it once was - on the top floor, the balustrade surrounding the external gallery is coming away from the building and moves if you touch it, which wasn't really such a good sign. That and the lack of flooring in various parts reminded me that falling five floors onto concrete really wasn't to be recommended. It was odd seeing photos of the college taken in 2003 - the degree of damage since then is astonishing. The teaching block roof is almost entirely caved in and that made entering that part of the site impossible. Also, the convent roof has collapsed, making that unsafe also. Well, when I say 'unsafe', I suppose I mean 'more unsafe' - the whole place is quite treacherous if you don't keep your eyes open. Particularly with all the water that has collected in various places. I initially thought Coia and Co had decided a swimming pool in the main Chapel was a good idea. Sadly, the Altar has been badly damaged, heavily covered in graffiti and is badly chipped.

Up on the top floor of the main building, you get a much better idea of what the cells would have been like - the fixtures are still present in a few, with concealed lighting and a whole TWO electrical sockets in each one. And one room was painted a lovely shade of orange. It's a pity so much of the original wood (along with the skylights and anything else covered in copper) was missing. All the same, the rooms were clearly fairly small. And I read online from one former occupant that the whole place was exceptionally cold and draughty and not particularly pleasant to live in, no matter how many awards it may have won. The views from the top of the building were amazing. It was only after the visit, when I did a bit more research on the net, that I discovered there was originally a dry moat and a bridge - I had seen the thick chain where the bridge is, but it made little sense at the time. If you do visit and feel the urge to visit the upper floors, don't use the central interior staircase - use the fire stairs at the far end of the building, which give safer access to all the floors. Talking of which, I had to laugh that the fire stairs encircle the boiler and chimney - which, you would imagine, would have been the most likely place for any fire to have started, making the stairs a little redundant.

All in all, I'm very glad that I went and saw the college - despite what I said previously about concrete being ugly, it is thanks to the use of so much concrete that the shell of the building remains standing. I can't help thinking that the Church has no particular interest in the place and would probably be quite happy if it just fell down one day. It can't be demolished, various fires have caused only partial damage, and there is the question of what can you actually *do* with the place now? Not very much, really, I suspect. It was built for a particular purpose and to make it at all useable for anything else would cost a fortune; and it's too far out of the way to make that realistic. Which is a pity.

As a recent article in the Lennox Herald (2 January 2009) reports -

Fallen debris, dangerous roof and floor structures and overgrown woodland have made the building unsafe but not deterred visitors, primarily photographers and design students.

Now, I understand why. If you have never been, the place is definitely worth a visit but take care while you are there.

These are a few photos from the visit, with more on my own site (address below).

Will

[Toby Dammit]

Good article about the pile in the Guardian on Saturday:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... e-cardross

[Lucky Poet]

Excellent photos. (Interesting Gruaniad article too.) It's remarkable how quickly the place has become a ruin. I'd love to see it, but I guess I'll have to hurry up.

[Digitographer]

Very interesting article. Particularly the note about Murray Grigor recreating his 1970s film with St Peters in its ruined state - I would be very interested to see that.

Poet - if you haven't already been, then do try and go see it; it really is worth a visit.

[My Kitten]

Very interesting article. Particularly the note about Murray Grigor recreating his 1970s film with St Peters in its ruined state - I would be very interested to see that.

Poet - if you haven't already been, then do try and go see it; it really is worth a visit.

defo go, its a great place, although I am biased.

I'd be surprised that H&S would let Mr Grigor set foot in the place never mind film, would be a great past present tho.

[Lucky Poet]

An idea for a wee HG trip, no?

I'd really like to see the place, but I don't drive. I can get to Glasgow no problem of course, but much beyond that I'm out of luck. If anybody going there in future has a spare seat in their horseless carriage, give me a shout. (Share of petrol paid of course.)

[gap74]

I seem to end up there a few times a year, LP, and quite enjoying taking folk to pop their St Pete's cherry, so to speak!

If I've a spare day coming up soon that suits, I'll happily take you.

If you can't wait that long, the train station at Cardross is only a 20-30 min walk away at most, depending on what end you approach from. Just expect a bit of mud at this time of year, and wear footwear that offers at least a wee bit of protection from nails and the like!