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Cardross, St Peter's College

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College (20th Century)

Site Name Cardross, St Peter's College

Classification College (20th Century)

Alternative Name(s) (Incorporating) Kilmahew House; Kilmahew Estate; Cardross Seminary

Canmore ID 113509

Site Number NS37NE 29

NGR NS 35304 78404

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/113509

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Bluesky International Limited 2025. Public Sector Viewing Terms

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Digital Images

Main Block, view of Lower Chapel, from South, with Diane Watters. Digital image of C 78962.
Main Block, view of Lower Chapel, from South, with Diane Watters. Digital image of C 78962.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SSE, of St Peter's College. digital image of D 36157 CN.Exterior elevated view looking down on courtyardMain Block, view of central staircase at basement levelCardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SSE, of St Peter's College.View of Kilmahew House from South EastView of Teaching and Library Block, from South East. Digital image of C 44434 CN.Main Block, view of ramp to Lower Chapel from South. Digital image of C 50212.View of East side of Main Block with fire escape, from South with Kilmahew House behind. Digital image of C 50204.Archbishop Scanlan laying the foundation stone before the 'entire hierarchy of Scotland', 8 September 1964. In central group, immediately to the left of cross: Professor James McShane (in white) and Rector Connolly. In left hand group, front row: Archbishop Grey (left) with Bishop McGhee of Galloway behind. In right hand group, fron t row, from left: Bishop Ward, Bishop Hart of Dunkeld, Bishop Black of Paisley, in right hand group, at centre of back row: Father James McMahon.Main block from SEInterior. Ground floor. Chancel with broken altar tableInterior. Ground floor. Chapel from north westView of lodge at Kilmahew Estate.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the NE, of St Peter's College.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the NNW, of St Peter's College.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SW, of St Peter's College.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking SW.View of Side Chapels of Main Block, from SouthView of Teaching Block from South EastView of south end of Teaching and Library Block and North Chapel from North East. Digital image of C 44436 CN.View of Main Block from East South East. Digital image of C 50200.View of Main Block entrance on South side with Miles Horsey in middle ground. Digital image of C 50201.Interior. Ground floor from south westInterior. Ground floor from northInterior. Ground floor from south eastCardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the E, of St Peter's College.View of Main Block from SW.Scanned image of Kilmahew House from SW.Scanned image of Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the E, of St Peter's College.View of entrance to Kilmahew House and North side of Main Block from East with Diane Watters and Miles Horsey. Digital image of C 50206.Cardross, scanned image of oblique aerial view, taken from the NNW, of St Peter's College.Interior. Ground floor. Chancel, detail of graffiti on west wallOblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking SSW.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, Cardross, looking S.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking N.View of Kilmahew House from WestMain Block, view of Lower Chapel from North, with Diane Watters. Digital image of C 50211.Main Block, view of interior of Refectory from West. Digital image of C 50209.View of Convent Block from South. Digital image of C 50203.Interior. Ground floor. Staircase to upper level from south westMain block and remains of entrance to Kilmahew House from northInterior. Ground floor. Chapel from south east (with Investigator Diane Watters)Oblique aerial view of St Peters Seminary, Kilmahew House and Cardross Golf Course, looking NW.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking SE.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking NW.Oblique view of Main Block from South South WestCardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the S, of St Peter's College.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the NW, of St Peter's College.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SSE, of St Peter's College.View of Kilmahew House from South WestView of Side Chapels of Main Block from South. Digital image of C 50198 CN.Main block from EMain block. Shallow arching with decking aboveDetail of sluice chain and remains of ponds on south side of main blockInterior. Ground floor. Chapel from south eastView of South end of Teaching and Library Block and North Chapel, from North EastOblique view of Main Block from South South WestMain block from south eastView of Kilmahew House from South WestCardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the W, of St Peter's College.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SW, of St Peter's College.View of South end of Teaching and Library Block and North Chapel, from North EastView of Main Block from South WestView of Side Chapels of Main Block from SouthDigital image of drawing showing block plan and site plan of St Peter's College and Kilmahew House. Site plan also shows lodges, steading, Kilmahew Castle and other estate buildings. Insc. 'Gillespie, Kidd & Coia December 1961' . Scale (Block plan) 1/16" (Site plan) 1/2500Main block from northOblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking E.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking NNE.Oblique aerial view of St Peter's College, looking WNW.Cardross, oblique aerial view, taken from the SSW, of St Peter's College.View of Kilmahew House from South EastMain Block, view of central staircase at basement level

Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Cardross (Argyll And Bute)
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Dumbarton
  • Former County Dunbartonshire

Architecture Notes

Architects: Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, 1966

Plans in possession of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow Diocesan Office, Clyde Street, Glasgow, Drawings Collection:

CP97 Site Plan, Pen and Ink, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1960

CP176/1 South Elevation. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/2 East (Approach) Elevation. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/3 Lower Ground Floor Plan. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/4 Title of Set of Drawings. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/5 Upper Ground Floor Plan. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/6 Plan of First Floor Classroom. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/7 First Floor Plan. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/8 Second Floor Plan. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/9 Third Floor Plan. Dyeline copy. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959

CP176/10 Details of Typical Bedroom. Isometric Elevation looking towards bed. Elevation looking towards basin. Elevation looking towards Window. Elevation looking towards Door. Dyeline. Scale 1/2. Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

CP176/11 Section. Dyeline. Scale 1/4". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

CP176/12 Section AA. Dyeline. Scale 1/4". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

CP176/13 Section. Dyeline. Scale 1/16". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

CP176/14 Section CC. Dyeline. Scale 1/4". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

CP176/15 Longitudinal Section. Dyeline. Scale 1/8". Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 1959.

(Undated) information in RCAHMS.

See also:

NS37NE 29.01 Kilmahew House

NS37NE 29.02 Kilmahew House, South Lodge and gatepiers

NS37NE 29.03 Lodge

Further Details

Site Management (20 February 1990)

Buildings at Risk Register BARR

Seminary buildings, originally linked to Kilmahew House (now demolished) consisting of a large main block, 4-storey over a partly raised basement accommodating chapel, refectory and study bedrooms; 2-storey over raised basement, lecture theatre/library block joined at right angles to main block; single storey kitchen wing (now partly demolished) linking the main block to Kilmahew House; 2-storey convent wing formerly adjoined to Kilmahew House to N. Concrete slab and column construction, brown pebble facings to precast concrete slab cladding; interior of main block with non-structural vaulted ceiling of metal lath and plaster.

St Peter's seminary was commissioned in 1958 by the Archbishop of Glasgow. Now redundant it has been systematically vandalised and is now reduced to a ruinous skeleton.

Designed by innovative architects, Metzstein and McMillan (who ran the Gillespie, Kidd and Coia architectural practice after the war (overseen by Jack Coia) it is hailed as one of the finest modern buildings of the day and was recognised as such when it was awarded the prestigious RIBA Architecture award in 1967.

Influenced by the architecture of Le Corbusier and in particular his monastery of La Tourette, they took the traditional monastic plan and reshaped it to form a totally modern idiom in terms of planning, of interrelated spaces which are expressed on the exterior by the change of form and materials and with technical virtuousity they achieved a complex of buildings of amazing effects and sculptural quality. Kilmahew House was demolished in 1995 following fire damage. (Historic Scotland)

Go to BARR website 

Further Details

Activities

Publication Account (1997)

Rhetorical culmination of the romantic, 'form-giving' tendency in Scottish Modernism, and of the sectional planning formula for educational institutions developed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. A seminary for training of a hundred student priests, set on an abrupt wooded bluff, adjacent to an exisiting Baronial house by John Burnet Senior. On the outside, studiedly rough concrete surfaces, block geometry, and dramatic cantilevering over the trees; inside, spectacularly flowing spaces intended to express the unity of the community's activities, through the enfolding of chapel and refectory by stepped ranges of study bedrooms. Following several years of dereliction and vandalism, the College is now stripped to a tree-enveloped skeleton. In 1993, at the request of DOCOMOMO's Scottish working-party, Historic Scotland raise the college's list status to Category 'A' (Fig. 4.42).

Information from 'Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75', (1997).

Further Details

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