The Oban Hills Hydropathic Sanatorium was a proposed Hydropathic Hotel in Oban, Scotland. Construction of the hotel began in 1881 on a hill east of the downtown overlooking the town and the harbour. Had it been completed the hotel would have been a major landmark on the Oban skyline. The hotel was never completed due to financial difficulties and currently lies in ruins.
With the newly arrived railway making Oban accessible to Glasgow and Edinburgh, a group of Glasgow businessmen formed the Oban Hills Hydropathic Sanatorium Limited in 1881. The proposed hotel was to have contained 137 bedrooms, a conservatory, and a concert hall and seawater baths. There were also plans for a golf course, stables, landscaped gardens and a hydraulic lift to bring guests up from the town.
Robert McAlpine and Co. were contracted for the construction and 300 workers were employed in building the hotel. A miniature railway was built to carry construction materials up the hill. By 1882 the roof timbers were in place and the hotel was distinctly visible from the town below.
However, the project soon fell into financial difficulty, the cost of the hotel having been grossly underestimated. Shareholders were unwilling to continue financing the construction and the nearly-completed hotel was abandoned. The structure slowly fell into ruin as local residents pillaged stones to build their own homes.
Robert McAlpine started in the building trade in 1869. He operated out of Stonefield, Blantyre, near Hamilton, Scotland. He was the first of the family that would go onto become a huge construction and engineering Company – Sir Robert McAlpine Construction – It carries out engineering and construction for the oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, nuclear, pharmaceutical, defence, chemical, water and mining industries
Around 1871, Robert McAlpine started to manufacture his own bricks at the Hamilton Hill Brickworks, Glasgow and at the Stonefield Brickworks, Blantyre. He stamped his bricks ‘R. McAlpine, Stonefield’
In 1880 Mr McAlpine took on a partner, his cashier, and his bricks were then stamped ‘R McAlpine & Co, Stonefield’
In 1883 this partnership dissolved. For several years McAlpine had been experimenting in the use of concrete for use in construction and he was duly nicknamed ‘Concrete Bob’. His brick manufacturing business came to an end but the construction business grew and grew.
I wanted to visit the Oban Hydro to see if I could find any stamped McAlpine bricks to confirm that he used his own on-site. I did indeed find ‘R McAlpine & Co, Stonefield’ bricks. There were also other similar unstamped red bricks. The Hydro was built predominantly with stone with the bricks, in the main, forming internal features around fireplaces etc.
An added bonus to my visit was the sighting of fire clay ‘joist shods’ in situ on some of the remaining gable ends. click me
Below – ‘R McAlpine & Co, Stonefield’ and an unmarked brick found at Oban Hydro.
Below – Joist shods.
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Below – Some views of the ruined building.
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1897 – Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston – … New Primary Schoolhouse, Vernon street, Roxbury, additional, §14,000. — It will be noted that the next few weeks will witness the completion of several school-houses begun during the previous year, including this new Primary School-house containing ten rooms, and replacing…
Messrs Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd, Main Street, Coatbridge. Clyde Tube Works, Main Street, Coatbridge. Canmore – This building now appears to be a courthouse. Information. 22/09/1906 – Coatbridge Leader – Messrs Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd. Description of new offices. Messrs Stewart and Lloyds Limited have just completed the erection of new offices at the corner…
Many thanks to Mike Allan for the following information and photographs. Mike states – These two octagonal chimney ‘cans’ were salvaged by me from our family house at Osborne Place, Dundee (built 1869). Methven, Kirkcaldy, was in the business of both homewares and utilities. Garnkirk, Lanark, made utilitarian wares. Ours was one of 4 houses,…
Ian Suddaby states – Carrick Academy in Maybole, Ayrshire is soon to replaced with a modern community hub, school and leisure centre. The existing school was built from red brick and red sandstone in 1925 and extra accommodation was added in the 1970s. Digging work in the grounds suggests that the 1925 building was made…
Yoker Railway Station, Yoker, Glasgow aka Yoker Ferry Station. The bricks below were recovered by Michael Fallone and his grandson Max Borland at the site of the Yoker Ferry Station, Yoker, Glasgow. The outward appearance of the bricks with regards colour and texture is exactly the same but the bricks were manufactured by two completely…
Found by Drew Mitchell in the Fife area. This brick came from an internal, original wall of Drews house and is therefore dated 1892 as per the house build. Appin Brickworks, Townhill, Dunfermline. . . . .
Canmore – Exploratory excavations near the edge of the Merse have revealed an area that was either the off-loading area for the 18th-century jetty or the site of a brickworks known to be functioning in the 1750s. An unroofed structure annotated ‘Old Brick Kiln’ is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map *******************************…
20/02/1886 – Falkirk Herald – Field young grass, about 6 acres. Hay or grazing. Apply Thomas Burns, The Firs Brick and Tile Work. 29/01/1887 – Alloa Advertiser – For sale. Quantity of drain pipes, various sizes, house tiles and flower pots, all superior quality. Load C.R or N.B Rail. James Potter, Firs Brick and Tile…
Many thanks to Sandy Sutherland for making me aware of this as it greatly assists dating such brickmarks. The gatehouse was built in c.1864 and the bricks shown are original to the build. Red brick stamped – Allan & Mann Patent Glasgow. Buff brick stamped – Allan & Mann Govan Patent Glasgow. Below – The…
Found by Jeannie Cooper next to one of the broken piers. Maker is unknown. Find location would suggest Scottish origins but … 27/05/1871 – Dundee Peoples Journal – It is understood that the contractors for the Tay Bridge have arranged for obtaining a large quantity of bricks from Messrs Robert Small & Co, brick and tile…
