- Conservation Area Map (2.7MB PDF)
- West End Suburbs Conservation Appraisal (2.8Mb PDF)
This conservation area combines and extends the Perth Road Terraces, Perth Road West, and West Park Gardens Conservation Areas, all dating from 1984. It consolidates the best of the Victorian west end residential expansion of Dundee, which optimised the river views and clear area. There are a few key monumental buildings - Blackness Library, Logie and St John's (Cross) Church, Harris Academy, the Western Cemetery and the University of Dundee Botanic Garden.
The Botanic Garden, with Vernonholme, forms the south west corner of the conservation area. It was established in 1971 and now provides Dundee with a notable plant collection in an outstanding setting. Glamis Road continues the west boundary, turning into Blackness Road, which forms the north boundary as far as Hyndford Street. To the west is a group of secluded large houses, but eastwards they are smaller. The terraces off West Park Road constitute widely spaced tenements and houses, overlooking private and communal gardens. Further east, Farington Street offers a secluded group of late Victorian houses, with terraces off the steeply curving street. The north east tail of the conservation area incorporates the top of Blackness Avenue and Hillcrest Road. Here the streetscape is important. Simple elegant houses set in mature gardens, complimented by street trees, create a quiet residential environment.
In the lower part of the conservation area, along Perth Road, west of the Western Cemetery and for most of the south side, is a series of individual mansion houses, funded by 19th century industry. Some are identified by lodges, set behind tall stone walls, and amid extensive mature policies. Most are either subdivided, with houses in their grounds, or converted to other uses, such as offices or University facilities. A few have been demolished for small pockets of detached houses, and are commemorated only by surviving ancillary buildings and mature trees.
The Cemetery has notable monuments to many of Dundee's pre-eminent Victoria citizens. It is fronted by an elaborate 1840s gothic entrance screen. To the east, along to Hawkhill and Blackness Avenue, there are grand terraces of tenements and town houses. Opposite the cemetery is the 1920s classical Harris Academy, a courtyard-plan complex, set into the hillside with south windows to every classroom. The grounds of the adjacent houses and allotments begin to rise steeply above the railway line, the southern boundary, and are densely planted and well enclosed.
Other nearby Conservation areas: