Hydro-Electric Engine House at Castle Drogo Moretonhampstead, Devon, England, UK

Listed Building Reasons For Designation

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Yes List

Listed Building Description

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

MORETONHAMPSTEAD

1803/0/10006 Hydro-Electric Engine House at Castle 09-FEB-11 Drogo

GV II Turbine house by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built in the 1920s to supply electricity to Castle Drogo.

MATERIAL: The turbine house comprises a small concrete building with a roof now covered in corrugated metal, but formerly thatched.

PLAN: It is a single storey building with a steeply pitched roof. It lies in the valley of the River Teign and is fed by a pipeline which carried water into the screening tanks and then, under pressure, through the turbines within the turbine house.

EXTERIOR: It has a plank double door with two light casement to the east with a second casement window to the north elevation overlooking an adjacent stepped outflow sluice and sluice gate. A series of screening tanks are attached to the west.

INTERIOR: Internally, the turbine house is open to the roof which is of boarded common rafters. A Crompton turbine with a Gilkes governor, generator and distribution board survives in situ along with the machine base and conduit for a second turbine. The paired turbines were intended to be used alternately with one in use during the summer months and the other in winter.

HISTORY: Castle Drogo is an ambitious country house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Julius Drewe (1856-1931), a self-made man who made his fortune in the grocery business, retiring at 33 to pursue his dream of creating a fitting family home which gave dignity to his lineage. Commonly called the 'last castle in England', Castle Drogo (listed Grade I) is undoubtedly one of Lutyens's masterpieces. The foundation stone was laid on the 4th April, 1911 and work continued, intermittently during the war, until 1930. In addition to the house, Lutyens also designed the stables and coach house garages (listed Grade II) and the turbine house, located to the south east of the house on the south bank of the River Teign.

SOURCES Chitty, G, Monuments Protection Programme: Electric Power Generation Step 4 Report (2000), 17, 31, 41 Monuments Protection Programme - Electric Power (Renewables): Site Assessment: Devon 8, Castle Drogo

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The 1920s turbine house by Sir Edwin Lutyens is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• Architectural interest: a deliberate use of vernacular references in a small industrial building by Sir Edwin Lutyens at the edge of a designed landscape * Intactness: an unusually complete private electricity generation scheme of the 1920s * Group Value: strong group value with Castle Drogo (listed Grade I); the stables (listed Grade II) and the designed landscape (registered Grade II*)