Royal
Incorporation of
Architects in
Scotland

Outlook Pavilion, Queen
Elizabeth Forest Park,
Aberfoyle: sections and
elevations. 1958.
Mechanical copy, colour
wash. SC609898

The Shearer & Annand Collection contains over 20,000 drawings and 205 boxes of manuscripts. In 2000, 14,400 drawings and all manuscripts were catalogued as part of the Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project. The Shearer & Annand practice was formed in 1907 by James Grant Shearer (1907-1962), who was joined in partnership by George Annand (1915-1964) in 1952.

The material in the Collection includes much evidence of the practice's long association with the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for whom they designed projects including the Carnegie Birthplace Museum (1925-28) and the Outlook Pavilion in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, Aberfoyle (1958-66). The Pavilion with its pyramid-roofed tower provides a focal point in the landscape as, simultaneously, the single-storey rubble-faced wings radiate outwards merging with the surrounding countryside.

The Collection also represents the range of projects Shearer & Annand worked on over the years for the people of Dunfermline. These include the new covered enclosure at the East End of the Grandstand for the Dunfermline Athletic Football Club (1957-59), as well as one of the practice's most renowned projects, the Fire Station for Dunfermline Town Council. The 500+ drawings of the Fire Station in the Collection, produced between 1934-36, demonstrate the design process that resulted in this celebrated, category B listed, modernist building. The structure is of brick with the string-courses and masonry dressings in Northumberland stone. The drawings testify to the time spent working out in detail the levels of the blue brickwork courses that are a distinctive decorative feature of the design.

General aerial view of Dunfermline town centre. 1989.
SC609980

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club: impression of new turnstiles. c.1957.
Mechanical copy.
SC609905

Dunfermline Fire Station from West. 1989.
SC383738

Dunfermline Fire Station from South West. 1989.
SC383740

Dunfermline Fire Station: front elevation to Carnegie Street. 1934.
Mechanical copy, coloured pencil.
SC609911

Dunfermline Fire Station: end elevation. 1934.
Mechanical copy, coloured pencil.
SC609919

The North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board (NSHEB) was a major client of Shearer & Annand, providing the majority of its work in the 1940s and 1950s, and remaining a staple client throughout the practice history. The extensive material in the Collection, including a large proportion of engineers' drawings, demonstrates the entire process of the creation of hydro electric power, from the dam, through the gatehouse, to the power station. Schemes represented include Conon Valley, 1946-60, Glen Affric, 1946-60, and Loch Shin, 1955-60.

Fasnakyle Power Station, Inverness-shire, perspective view of executed design.
c.1950.
Paper, ink, colour wash.
SC636573

Grudie Bridge Power Station, Ross and Cromarty, East elevation. 1948.
Linen, ink.
SC609887

Sketch of Lairg Dam and Power Station, Sutherland, 1956.
SC609954

Mullardoch Dam Gatehouse, Inverness-shire, c.1950.
SC609960

James Shearer was a consultant architect for the NSHEB and was primarily concerned with the aesthetics of the schemes. The NSHEB was required by the Labour government to integrate the schemes into the local communities, benefiting the areas both aesthetically and socially. In an attempt to harmonise the buildings with the surrounding landscape, local quarries were reopened and the stone used to face the buildings. Along with this use of local stone, Shearer was also responsible for the Pictish carvings on the façades of some of the power stations, a motif he saw entirely fitting for these Scottish buildings.

As a major employer in rural areas, the NSHEB also supplied workers' housing. Shearer was responsible for the housing at Cannich in Inverness-shire, 1950-60 and Luichart in Ross and Cromerty, c.1953, among others. The cottages were of a standard type with a choice of finishes such as roughcast or stone, selected to fit in with the local area. They provided quality accommodation for the hydro worker and his family. The cottages had under-floor heating and one particularly snowy winter the families boasted the best-cleared paths in the area thanks to the escaping heat.

Loch Shin project, Sutherland, hydraulic panel, 1956.
SC609973