Montrose, 4 Meridian Street, Warehouse

NO75NW 46 71566 57152

(Location cited as NO 715 572). Warehouse, Brechin Agricultural Product Co., mid 19th century. A long 2-storey, 4-bay rubble building.

J R Hume 1977.

Two-storey stone built warehouse with slated roof built c.1905. The SW curved gable end has roller doors with a circular ventilation opening in gablehead and panel above inscribed "1905".

The warehouse is not depicted on the 2nd edition of the oS 25-inch map (Forfarshire, 1903, sheet 35), but is by the 1924 edition.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), November 2007

A long, 2-storey warehouse with curvilinear south gable end facing Montrose Harbour. The gable has simple classical detailing with a circular opening, a panel inscribed "1905", and a segmental hoodmould with coped skews and double skewputts. It is constructed of the grey/brown sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, common to many traditional buildings in Montrose. There are blocked openings at ground and 1st floor, some with rolling door insets. The pitched roof structure is timber with a grey slate covering and is piended at the northeast end.

Dated 1905 (possibly incorporating earlier fabric) this building is a notable representative example of stone-built warehousing in Montrose, occupying a prominent harbour location, with an ornamental gable facing the quay.

A warehouse was first proposed for this site by engineer James Leslie in his 1836 plan for Montrose Harbour (adjacent to the proposed wet dock, completed by 1843). The rectangular-plan footprint of a lime store warehouse is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed, 1861) and the present building may incorporate some fabric from this building. The present warehouse, dated 1905, has largely remained in use in some capacity since then for storage. Two vehicular openings were enlarged during the later 20th century. The wet dock was infilled in 1981, creating space for additional warehousing and storage facilities.

Despite some later alteration and some loss of fabric, the warehouse remains a good surviving example of an industrial building that relates to the development and historic function of Montrose Harbour. The prosperity of the town during the 19th century was in no small part built on its well-situated harbour for international trading and cargo.

The quayside setting is important, relating directly to the building's function. It is one of a small group of nearby industrial buildings of historic significance in this area of Montrose including the Old Custom House and Grain Store (LB38222) and the former fish curing works at 1-5 America Street (LB46164). Together these buildings contribute to an understanding of the commercial history and development of Montrose Harbour.

While harbour warehouses are not a rare building type in Scotland this example, with its segmental gable facing the harbour, is now among the best surviving 19th – early 20th century warehouses in Montrose. (Historic Environment Scotland)