Description

Pre 1828. 3-storey and attic, 3 x 3-bay tenement building on corner site with altered shops to ground. Grey granite ashlar. Round-arched openings to ground. Band course, blocking course. 6-panel timber entrance door with fanlight above. Piended dormers.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slates, coped gable stacks, raised skews.

Statement of Interest

This is a good example of an early 19th century tenement building in King Street. Simple Classical detailing is characteristic of this part of Aberdeen and round-arched ground floors were a particular feature. Here, the round-arched openings to the ground floor have been retained, and it is likely that the street intended to have a continuous run of these on the ground floor. Shown on the John Wood Map of 1828, the building is one of the earlier ones to be built in the street. This row of tenement buildings with their restrained, classical style forms an essential component for the planned streetscape of King Street. The classical style was to dominate the planned early nineteenth century city of Aberdeen. 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 a modern rational classical city.

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.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17775342

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)