Not What it Seems

You could be forgiven for thinking this was a blip of a Scottish stately home - but it's not.
This is the exterior of a motor car factory in Alexandria - north of Glasgow.
This building with its impressive and palatial 540-foot frontage built of red sandstone from Dumfries, granite from Aberdeen, and Italian marble began life in 1905 as offices and workshops for the flourishing Argyll Motors Limited. The factory was behind. It took fourteen months to build and equip at a cost of £220,000 and was the largest car factory in the world outside the United States.
The building consists of two wings. Over the central entrance is a carving of a nymph on an Argyll car surrounded by artisans and cherubs (see extras).  Inside is a magnificent marble staircase (see extras) at the top of which a grand corridor extends almost 100 yards each way. The North Wing used to house the offices, board room, drawing office etc, the South Wing, the dining rooms, kitchen, recreation rooms, ambulance room, reading room and a hall seating 500.

After the First World War Argyll Motors realised they could not compete for price with other cars then being produced in the English Midlands. Regretfully production ended in 1928.

In 1935 the Royal Navy came and the Works became a torpedo factory until 1969. 

The building then became empty and deteriorated during many years of neglect.
In the late nineties a company took over the restoration of the building and after a considerable amount of work and money had been spent on the project, Loch Lomond Factory Outlets was officially opened to the public in 1997 by HRH the Princess Royal.
What exists now is only the front-facing part of the old building - the rear buildings (the factory) having been demolished some years ago (see extras).
It's a hugely impressive building - sorry about the lengthy narration - but I LOVE something like this :-)  Let's hope it survives and flourishes.