Description

Mid 19th century. 3-storey and attic 6 x 3-bay Classical tenement building with altered shops to ground, situated on prominent corner site with curved corner. Grey granite ashlar, rubble to rear. Band course, cill courses, eaves cornice and blocking course, upswept at corner. Round-arched opening to ground at far right with 4-panel timber entrance door with fanlight above. 6-panel timber door with narrow timber jambs and rectangular fanlight above. Piended and pedimented dormers.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows. Plate glass to shop fronts. Grey slates. Gable stacks.

Statement of Interest

This well-detailed, yet restrained classical tenement building with its distinctive curved corner and round-arched entrance opening, forms an essential component of the planned streetscape of King Street. Situated at a busy main junction, across from Aberdeen Arts Centre (see separate listing), this building contributes significantly to the streetscape of this early section of King Street. The classical style was to dominate the planned early nineteenth century city of Aberdeen and this is a good example of its type. The bold town planning which created Union Street and King Street was the defining gesture which allowed Aberdeen to develop from a contained medieval burgh to an rational modern city. This importance is recognised in the B Group designation for this first section of King Street.

King Street developed after 1794, when a town council meeting asked the engineer Charles Abercrombie to find a way to connect the original steep, muddled Medieval streets of Aberdeen to the surrounding countryside. His plan was for two streets, one of which would run from Castlegate to the Denburn and the other which would run from the Castlegate to the North of the town. The latter was King Street. A competition for designs for this new street brought forward a design from Thomas Fletcher. This was to be a long classical façade, with a pedimented centrepiece and higher end blocks. This design was begun on the East side in 1805, with the creation of nos 8-10 (see separate listing). The idea of a standard, uniform terrace, however, was abandoned when negotiations had to be entered into with owners regarding the length of the frontages and the heights of the buildings. It was then decided to allow some variations between designs, whilst keeping to the essential classical style.

Part of B Group with 5 Castle Street, Nos 1-56 (inclusive nos) King Street and St Andrews Episcopal Cathedral.

Category changed from B to C(S), 2007.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56625058

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings