THE SEMINARY
Listed Building -Category A
The Iconic Brutalist Behemoth, designed by Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan for the architectural practice of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia.
The History of St.Peter's Seminary.
St. Peter's Seminary is only one of forty two post-war buildings in Scotland to be listed because of its "special architecture or historic interest", and DOCOMOMO declared it "a building of world significance".
Commissioned by Fr. David McRoberts, who ran St.Peter's College, for the Archbishop of Glasgow, Donald Campbell, in 1958 through Jack Coia initially and then Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan of Gillispie, Kidd and Coia. It would be one of many modernist designs for the Catholic Church in and around Glasgow.
It is mainly based on the Le Corbusier angular building La Tourette, with touches of the Maison Jaouls inspiring the vault like structures.
Building began in 1961 and was completed in 1966. As the building had been taking shape, the Second Vatican Council had decided it needed to modernise and the resulting edicts meant that the Seminary was no longer needed. Unfortunately the building had been completed and so a smaller number of priests took up residence in the Seminary. It was eventually closed in the 1980's.
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The Seminary at Kilmahew and its future.
Kilmahew Education Trust acquired the site in July 2020 and have extensive plans for the Seminary building.
As this Brutalist building is designed for single cell occupancy, the ideal conversion for modern use is to retain this feature. We propose to reinstate the 'cells', to enable creatives such as animators to work individually. The refectory portion of the building will be revitalised as a restaurant for the animators and others. The chapel with its cathedral qualities, lends itself to a recording studio for orchestras and session music.
There are obvious interventions that need to be enacted on the building such as sound proofing and fire escapes, but we would like to gently rehabilitate this iconic masterpiece and bring it into the 21st century.