Description

A Marshall Mackenzie, 1896. 2-storey, basement and attic, 3-bay, rectangular-plan villa. Rough-faced coursed pink granite ashlar with pale grey dressings, finely finished to NW elevation; granite rubble to remainder. Ground and 1st floor cill course; long and short rusticated quoins; eaves course and cornice.

NW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical; decorative doorpiece to pedimented centre bay at ground floor, Tuscan columns supporting rusticated entablature and cornice, round-arched doorway with rusticated voussoirs, fluted panels flanking panelled timber door, decorative fanlight with dentil moulded cornice around; tripartite windows to flanking bays to left and right at basement and ground floors, modern railings enclosing basement; regular fenestration to 1st floor.

SW ELEVATION: gabled; flat-roofed addition to ground floor, window to centre of 1st floor above, single window off-centre to left set in gablehead.

SE ELEVATION: near-symmetrical; full basement floor; near-regular fenestration to all floors, with windows to right slightly broader, and windows to centre bay off-centre to left; 2 canted dormers to attic floor.

NE ELEVATION: gabled; link to 55 Queen's Road at basement and ground floors, with doorway to left return; barred openings to centre bays above, small window off-centre to right in gablehead.

Predominantly timber casement windows, plate glass central panes, 2-pane lower and small-pane uppers. Grey slate roof with lead ridge. Stone skews with blocked skewputts. Corniced gablehead stacks and coped wallhead stack to rear, octagonal cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: elaborate interior; majority of mouldings, architraves, some panelled doors, cornices and fire surrounds survive. 2-leaf glazed inner door; elaborately panelled hallway with decorative ceiling mouldings, fire surround; fine staircase with fretwork and turned balusters.

GATEPIERS, RAILINGS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: corniced square-plan rough-faced granite gatepiers to NW (shared with adjacent properties); low coped walls between, surmounted by railings (later addition); granite and brick coped rubble walls to remainder.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with 59 Queen's Road (see separate listing). From the beginning of the 19th century Aberdeen rapidly expanded westwards from Union Street. 57 Queen's Road 's Road is on the site of Skene Road, which was originally surrounded by the estate of Rubislaw. In 1877 Rubislaw Estate was bought by the City of Aberdeen Land Association, who re-aligned the road and sold off the estate in smaller plots. Streets became wider and villas with substantial gardens often replaced terraces. Prestigious architects, such as A Marshall Mackenzie, were often employed to produce bold and unusual designs to reflect the wealth and individuality of the clients. Mackenzie designed many of the adjacent villas (see separate listings), including the adjacent 59 Queen's Road, which in all but the colour of the granite is identical to 57 Queen's Road (59 Queen's Road has lost its window and much of the interior decorative scheme).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17775928

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)