Chapel adjoining Bishop's House, 3 Queen's Cross, Aberdeen, Hazlehead/Queens Cross/Countesswells, Aberdeen

Entry Name: Chapel adjoining Bishop's House, 3 Queen's Cross, Aberdeen

Listing Name: 3 Queen's Cross at St Swithin Street and Queen's Road, Bishop's House Adjoining St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Including Addition to E with Chapel

Listing Date: 17 June 1992

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 407183

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB20707

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200407183

Location: Aberdeen

County: Aberdeen

Town: Aberdeen

Electoral Ward: Hazlehead/Queens Cross/Countesswells

Traditional County: Aberdeenshire

Description

Probably J Russell Mackenzie, later 19th century; additions 1911, J Devlin. 2-storey and basement, 6-bay villa with 2-bay link to 6-bay addition to E. Tooled coursed grey granite finely finished to margins. Base course; panelled aprons; dividing band course; eaves course; long and short rough-faced quoins; overhanging eaves on brackets.

NW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical 3-bay entrance block to right; tetrastyle Tuscan portico with balustraded parapet advanced to centre of ground floor, stone steps to doorway, panelled timber door with letterbox fanlight, flanked to left and right by narrow windows, tripartite window to 1st floor above; windows to flanking bays to left and right at ground and 1st floors. 2-bay block stepped back to left, regular fenestration to each bay. Single storey block recessed to left, window to centre of ground and 1st floors. 20th century additions adjoining to outer left. Addition including chapel to outer right (see below).

SW ELEVATION: obscured by 20th century additions.

SE ELEVATION: symmetrical; 5-bay; addition advanced to basement floor, forming raised terrace to ground floor; 4-light canted window through ground and 1st floors of centre bay; round-arched niche to flanking bays to left and right of ground floor, single windows to 1st floor above; tripartite rectangular-plan windows advanced to ground floor of bays to outer left and right, single windows to 1st floor; regular fenestration to right return. Single bay block recessed to outer right, regular fenestration. 20th century addition to outer right. Addition including chapel to outer left (see below).

NE ELEVATION: lower floors obscured by 20th century addition, windows to 1st floor.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows. Piended grey slate roof with lead ridges. Ridge stacks corniced with modillions, decorative square-plan cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: fine interior, with much of original detail surviving. Decorative cornices to principal rooms of ground floor, simpler cornicing survives elsewhere; deep skirting boards, with dentil detail to principal room of ground floor; exceptionally fine panelled timber doors with inlaid details and stained glass, architraves and entablatures to ground floor; panelled timber shutters to windows. Fireplaces predominantly marble. Corinthian columns to ground floor hall and 1st floor landing; fine iron balusters to staircase.

ADDITION INCLUDING CHAPEL: J Devlin, 1911. 2-storey and basement 6-bay, rectangular-plan block linked to 3 Queen's Cross by full height block. Chapel to ground floor to N, 3 leaded bipartite windows. Regular fenestration to remainder. 20th century link to 1 Queen's Road to W (see separate listing). Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows; modern glazing to ground floor of SE elevation. Piended grey slate roof with lead ridges. Corniced stacks with square-plan cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Interior: predominantly simple interior. Segmental-arched roof to chapel, parquet floor, decorative pews with pierced backs, panelled walls to W end.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Gates, Gatepiers and Boundary Walls and 1, 3 and 5 Queen's Road (see separate listings). St Joseph's Roman Catholic School began in the small gardener's cottage on the periphery of the present school grounds, under the direction of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. In 1896 the school was taken on by the Aberdeen Education Authority as St Joseph's Girls School. It was a small school with 125 pupils and six teachers. In 1970 the school moved to 3 Queen's Cross, and a few years later took on the adjoining buildings, with the exception of 1 Queen's Road, which was retained by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart until 1993. 3 Queen's Cross was originally called Westwood, and was built for a wealthy tea planter, who never took up occupation there. It is one of the few houses on Queen's Road to be built before the Aberdeen Land Association redeveloped the area (from 1875).

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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