Description

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*)

Reasons for Listing

Yes List

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26675240

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)