THEY are among the country’s most expensive structures built by the world’s foremost architects, but the Scottish parliament, the Museum of Scotland and the Burrell Collection have been beaten to the title of Scotland’s most important modern building by a derelict Catholic seminary in Dunbartonshire.

St Peter’s College in Cardross, near Helensburgh, was chosen as the most influential building constructed in Scotland since the second world war by a panel of experts nominated by Prospect, the design and architecture magazine.

The seminary, a ruined skeleton consumed by vegetation, heads the first table of the top 100 modern Scottish buildings. The Scottish parliament is ranked fourth on the list, which will be unveiled at this week’s Scottish Design Show.

St Peter’s was commissioned as a seminary in 1958 and first opened its doors to trainee priests in 1966. Falling numbers forced its closure in 1980.

Penny Lewis, editor of Prospect and chairwoman of the selection panel, said that the building was an inspiration to contemporary architects.

“This is a spiritually uplifting and magical place even in its derelict form. It enjoys a fantastic relationship to the landscape, particularly in its use of water and stepped levels around the building,” she said.

“At the heart of the building is the space for worship, which is one of the best public places in Scotland for acoustics.”

A team from Prospect analysed significant public and private buildings constructed over the past six decades to produce a list that was whittled down to the top 100.

The seminary’s architects, Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan of the Glasgow firm Gillespie Kidd and Coia, will be honoured for their achievements at Glasgow’s Tramway Theatre on Thursday.

Lewis added: “Metzstein and MacMillan produced a really innovative and imaginative body of work. It sings with the optimism and sense of excitement of the 1960s and 1970s.”

However the building failed to impress the chancellor of the Glasgow archdiocese, Monsignor Peter Smith, who lived there for 18 months, a period which he described as “desperately bad”.

“It was freezing cold, with a leaky roof and had practically no sound proofing. The design was flawed and dreadfully impractical — the building had concrete and glass walls, no heating, no lighting and bespoke lightbulbs,” he said.

“The fire escape went round the chimney and above the boiler so, if that blew up, so would the fire escape and when it rained, the smoke turned to sludge on the stairs. It may have worked in Spain or France, but not Scotland.”

Smith said the fact that the seminary had won the award was an example of the disparity between the theory of architecture and the reality of human living. “Architects can tell us how wonderful this building is, but it was hell to live in,” he said.

A planning application from the church is being considered by Argyll and Bute council to prevent further damage to the seminary. The church is also considering gifting the building and estate to the local community.

It wants to see the seminary partially restored, 28 new homes built within its walled garden and the existing lodges on the estate being renovated for habitation.

Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow said: “I am delighted that the archdiocese has been honoured for its enlightened support of fine architecture. Changes of circumstances sadly render buildings obsolete, and in the case of St Peter’s this occurred much sooner than could have been foreseen.

“We have attempted for more than 20 years to find a solution which would have preserved the building and have attempted to put adequate security in place, but the vandals defeated us.”

However, some people have criticised the awards for ignoring Scotland’s most prominent buildings while honouring its more obscure structures.

David McDonald, director of the Cockburn Association in Edinburgh, said he felt that the Scottish parliament had not been fully appreciated by the architectural community.

“The Scottish parliament is, in my view, Scotland’s finest piece of contemporary architecture,” he said.

“At first glance the campus of buildings and landscapes that constitute the parliament are easy to knock — it is not a building that you fall in love with at first sight.

“But the more you explore, the greater the appreciation for its complex and contrasting architecture. There are few places I know of that can offer such a sense of discovery.”

Gordon Young, the publisher of Prospect, said: “One lesson from St Peter’s College is that radical new ideas are not necessarily appreciated at the time, but their importance becomes clear with the passage of some years.”

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