685

A photograph looking north-west across Dyer's Hall Lane in 1904. This lane and row of cottages were situated south of Union Street near the Hardgate at what was soon to become Willowbank Road. Some of these cottages were thought to date to before 1789. Though some would be more recent than that. The lane's name derives from when the old Dyers' Association met there. The houses were roofed with red pantiles which were replaced with asbestos when the roofs began to leak. They had outside stairs to the upper floors and water taps outside the door. The Town Council felt that it would be too costly to preserve the cottages despite their historic interest. They were among the few remaining examples of 18th century houses in the city. They were demolished in 1956 to make way for extensions to the Station Garage. The tall chimney in the background likely belonged to the nearby North of Scotland Distillery (formerly known as the Bon-Accord Distillery). Dyer's Hall Lane was replaced by Willowbank Road in around 1906. This was the first part of a new thoroughfare, incorporating Springbank Terrace, that would connect Holburn Street to Wellington Road (later South College Street). An article detailing the improvement scheme can be found in the Aberdeen Daily Journal of 21st March 1906 on page 4.