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Old Grammar School
125 This rather plain building which stood in Schoolhill was the old Grammar School. It was closed as a school in 1863, when the new school in Skene Street was opened. The building was demolished c.1882/3. The Grammar School seems to date back to the 13th century with successive buildings on this site. Pupils were taught Latin, Greek and English grammar with the aim of preparing them for entry to university. One of the most famous pupils here was Lord Byron, who attended from the age of 7 in 1795 for 4 years. The site was later occupied partly by The Robert Gordon University buildings. Gala and Heather Day in the Duthie Park
395 This Adelphi Series postcard shows the Gala Day taking place in Duthie Park on 21st August 1915.
The Gala in Duthie Park and the accompanying Heather Day were both organised to raise funds for the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The Gala Day is one of largest events ever to take place at the park. It was estimated that between 25,000 and 26,000 people attended. Tickets cost 6 pence (6d) for general admission and 2s 6d for carriages or motor cars.
Within the park there was an elaborate programme of entertainment and refreshments organised. Details of the programme were published in a 32 page booklet prior to the event. Upwards of 1,300 people took part in the programme.
Gates to the park opened at 3pm and the event officially commence at 3pm with a grand military parade. Lieut-Colonel A. H. Leith of Glenkindie, Garrison Commander, and Lord Provost James Taggart "took the salute" opposite the Hygiea statue.
The Gala and Heather Day were organised by a distinct committee; Taggart was its president and Alexander Findlay, Superintendent of Cleansing, was its chairman. Councillor H. J. Gray was the secretary and treasurer and Mr John Lints was his assistant. There were also conveners and secretaries for various sub-committees concerned with aspects like entertainment and refreshments.
There was a wide range of entertainment organised for within the park including singing, dancing, gymnastic displays, musical drill, motor cycle gymkhana and bayonet fighting. Various platforms saw performances from acts such as a company lead by D. M. Kinghorn, pierrots directed by Minnie Mearns, Dan Williams, and W. A. Craig's operatic choir. Charles Soutar lead a 500 strong choir of children from the city's public schools.
Practically all naval and military units present in the city were represented at the event and individuals from many of them took part in the sporting competitions. The day also included a 5-a-side football and tug of war competition. Preliminary matches for these took place prior to the day at Pittodrie Park.
The Gala Day was filmed and this was later shown as part of a special programme at the Picture House on Union Street from the 25th of the month.
Over £500 was taken at the gates for the event. Entertainment and refreshments within further increased the figure raised.
Heather Day itself generated another £474. This involved over 1,500 vendors going around all parts of the city selling sprigs of the plant. The sale started on the afternoon of the Friday and continued all through Saturday. Entertainment venues throughout the city were also visited.
The vendors were primarily young women and members of organisations like the boys brigade. Stores present in all areas of the city were replenished from a central depot at 173a Union Street. This in turn was supplied by the cleansing department buildings in Poynernook Road, where the preceding week had seen 200,000 sprigs prepared for sale. Peterhead, Inverurie, Ellon and Banchory organised their own Heather Days for the same fund.
The sum taken from both the Gala and the Heather Day was estimated at considerably over £1,000.
See the report in the Aberdeen Journal, Monday 23rd August 1915 page 8, for further details about the occasion. Frederick Street Primary School roof playground
453 A photograph showing school children on the roof top playground of Frederick Street Primary School in around 1907.
This was one of very few such playgrounds in the city, perhaps one of only two. The Central School on Schoolhill also had a comparable, roof-top playground for at least some of its history.
Frederick Street School opened in 1905 and had a role of 332 infants and 764 senior/junior pupils. The unusual, elevated playground measured 750 square feet. The staff of Aberdeen High School for Girls
455 The staff of Aberdeen High School for Girls outside the main entrance of the school on Albyn Place. The building was designed by Archibald Simpson. Quaker Meeting House
771 A photograph of the the Quaker meeting house that was located between Gallowgate and Sea Mount Place. This image shows the front elevation of the building that faced south east on to Port Hill.
The large scale Ordnance Survey town plan of Aberdeen (sheet LXXV.11.8., surveyed in 1867) indicates that their associated burial ground was located to the west of the building, towards Gallowgate. The plan also states that the meeting house had seating for 350 people.
The Quaker Meeting Houses Heritage Project (link here) states that the group first established their meeting house and burial ground on this site in 1672 and they continued to meet there until moving to a new location in 1800.
This building was later acquired by John Watt & Sons, leather merchants. The upper part had louvre windows which made it suitable for drying leather. Later OS maps suggest the building may have stood as a ruin into the mid-20th century.
At the time of writing in 2022, the site is now an elevated outdoor space surrounded by blocks of flats, to the south of Porthill Court, that go from Gallowgate around Seamount Road
A more recent, late-Victorian Quaker meeting house can be found at 98 Crown Street, Aberdeen.
To find out more about Quakers in Aberdeen, in addition to the above mentioned Quaker Meeting House Heritage Project, there is information on a relevant collection of books held by the University of Aberdeen, including a list of associated publications, here. Jack's Brae and March Lane
773 A photograph looking south east down Jack's Brae, past March Lane, towards upper Denburn in 1927.
The Ordnance Survey town plan from 1866-67 indicates that the buildings at the foot of Jack's Brae, beyond March Lane, and shown in the centre here, had a tannery to their rear. All these buildings on Jack's Brae were demolished and the land is now a green space.
The substantial granite building in the background on the left is Skene Street School, later known as Gilcomstoum Primary School. The wall that can be seen at the junction of Upper Denburn remains at the time of writing in 2022.
A city royalty boundary stone, marked "CR" can be seen underneath the March Lane street sign. Robert Gordon's College
788 Robert Gordon's College.
The Auld Hoose is the oldest part of Robert Gordon's Hospital, as it was originally called. The building was designed for the maintenance and education of boys who were the sons of poor and indigent burgesses of Aberdeen and opened in 1750. Gordon was a merchant from Aberdeen who made his fortune in the eighteenth century by trading in Eastern Europe. The school has continued to develop and expand to form the independent co-educational Robert Gordon's College. Old Grammar School
795 This rather plain building which stood in Schoolhill and was demolished about 1882/3 was the old Grammar School. It was closed as a school in 1863 when the new school in Skene Street was opened. The Grammar School seems to date back to the 13th century with successive buildings on this site. Pupils were taught Latin, Greek and English grammar with the aim of preparing them for entry to university. One of the more famous pupils here was Lord Byron, who attended from the age of 7 in 1795 for 4 years. The site is now partly occupied by buildings occupied by The Robert Gordon University. Central School (Aberdeen Academy)
1458 In 1901, Aberdeen School Board planned to build a new central higher grade school and plans were drawn up by John A. O. Allan for a building on the corner of Schoolhill and Belmont Street. The new school was opened in November 1905. It planned to cater for pupils aged 12 - 15 years coming from all the town's elementary schools, with over 1,000 on the roll initially. In 1954, the school changed name to become Aberdeen Academy, and its intake comprised those pupils who successfully passed their 11+ exams in Primary 7. The school closed in 1969 and the pupils moved to the newly built Hazlehead Academy. The building became a Resources centre for the Department of Education and then in the late 1990s became a shopping centre named "The Academy". Bannermill from Broad Hill
1487 A photograph looking south west from Broad Hill towards the Bannermill (or Banner Mill) cotton works.
The road in the foreground is that which would become Links Road. This continued along the north side of the factory and had a junction with Constitution Street at the north east corner of the works. The land shown in front of Bannermill is Queen's Links.
The location of Bannermill is now occupied by a large square shaped complex of mostly early 21st century flats (completed 2004), with parking in its middle, and a main entrance, on Bannermill Place, accessed from Constitution Street.
The factory was established in 1827 by Thomas Bannerman and closed down in 1904, then under the management of Messers Robinson, Crum & Co. Limited.
The premises were used as stores and for various types of works during the 20th century.
In 1999 the 5.8 acres site was put on the market by the then owners, the North Eastern Farmers (NEF) co-operative, with a price of around £5million. NEF left the site in February 1999 to move to a new headquarters at Rosehall, Turriff. (See P&J, 11 November 1999, p. 7)
Aberdeen City Council subsequently produced a planning brief for developers calling for a housing or mixed housing and hotel development on the site.
Wimpey House submitted a plan for 349 luxury flats and this proposal was given the go-ahead. Construction primarily took place during 2002 and 2003, with the first residents moving-in in October 2002. Commerce Street School class portrait
1710 The name of the individuals and the class shown here are unknown. The board held by the child in the centre looks like it says Commerce Street at the top. The rest is more difficult to read. The line below may read "Senior I", suggesting that the children shown here might be around 11 to 12 in age.
Records for Commerce Street School are held by the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives (under reference ED/AT5/1).
The online catalogue entry for these records indicates that Commerce Street was the first new school completed by Aberdeen School Board and was opened on 13 March 1876. The school closed on 30 June 1925 and the pupils were transferred to Hanover Street School. Thereafter the Commerce Street School buildings were used as the infant department of Hanover Street School.
The photograph likely dates from sometime in the early 20th century. Stop 4: Health Services for Women and Children - Agnes Thomson (1880-1952) Clementina Esslemont OBE (1864-1958) Fenella Paton (1901-1945) and Mary Esslemont (1891-1984)
2303 The first sick children's hospital on site of former Naval Surgeon's Dr Blaikie surgery on 6-8 Castle Terrace in 1877 extended to take in Castle Brae Chapel. An unsung heroine that worked on this site is Dr Agnes Thomson (nee Baxter) a graduate from Aberdeen University who served as an anaesthetist at the Sick Children's and Maternity Hospitals during the First World War. Agnes Thomson was instrumental in founding the Aberdeen Mother and Baby Home and volunteered her services to the Mother and Child Welfare Association, which was established to address the shockingly high death rate of babies and toddlers in the east end of Aberdeen.
Throughout her life, Clementina Esslemont OBE was a champion of liberal ideas and good causes and well known for her no-nonsense approach to social service provision. One of her principal achievements was the foundation of the Aberdeen Mother and Child Welfare Association in 1909, which played an important role in social service and public health provision in the City of Aberdeen until the creation of the Public Health Department in 1949. She was also involved in the establishment of a model block of tenements on the Spital, Aberdeen, in the formation of Aberdeen Lads' Club, St Katherine's Club, and the nursery school movement.
Dr Mary Esslemont, one of Clementina Esslemont's daughters, worked as a Gynaecologist at the hospital. Mary did much to improve the care and wellbeing for mothers and babies with her determination and hard work. As well as being the Gynaecologist she also ran prenatal and family planning clinics. Mary was an advocate of women's rights, health education and family planning. She was the first female president of the Student University Council and the first woman to be president of Aberdeen Liberal Association in 1954. Awarded the CBE in 1955, Aberdeen City Council bestowed the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1981.
Aberdeen has also led the way in family planning with a remarkable woman at the forefront of fertility control. Pioneer Fenella Paton opened Aberdeen's first family planning clinic in 1926 at Gerrard street. The clinic, the first of its kind in Scotland, moved to new premises in Castle Street in 1948. But prior to these clinics and innovations in family planning there were large families and mothers that needed to go out to work and at our next stop an initiative was put in place to help these working women.
Memories:
Norma Michie speaking about Mary Esslemont
Audrey's memories of the Family Planning Clinic
Denise's memory of the Family Planning Clinic
Heather's memories of Ina Lawrence and the Children's Hospital
Alma Duncan's memories of Cocky Hunters Treasure 31: Hays' Isometrical View of Aberdeen 1850
2586 In September 1850 an advert appeared in the local papers of Aberdeen for "Hays' Isometrical View of Aberdeen, giving a Distinct and Correct View of the Whole City and Environs". We hold copy of the plan from 1850 in our Local Studies collection.
The plan was available to purchase for 3s. 6d. and measured 34 inches by 19 inches. Carvers and gilders, J. & J. Hays, had premises at 2 Market Street where they also sold prints and optical instruments. At the bottom left of the image we see the words George Wilson, Delt. (abbreviation of delineator, i.e. the artist). George Wilson was to find fame a few years later as George Washington Wilson when he became one of Scotland's premier photographers.
George Washington Wilson
George Washington Wilson was born in 1823 at Waulkmill of Carnousie in Banffshire and left school at 12 years of age to be an apprentice carpenter. He practised his artistic skills by drawing portraits of friends and neighbours and, after training at art schools in Edinburgh and London, he returned to Aberdeen to become an art teacher and portrait painter.
By the late 1840's Wilson was attracted by the work of Fox Talbot in the new art of photography and after initial experiments with a homemade camera, he advertised a business offering photographic portraits before eventually expanding into landscape photography.
A Bird's Eye View of History
Wilson created this panoramic view of the city by making numerous sketches from the roofs of high buildings and then merging them into one comprehensive drawing. We are looking north across the city from the harbour with Union Street running horizontally across the centre and Old Aberdeen in the far distance. We can see how small the city actually was at this time - open fields are visible just to the north of the west end of Union Street.
A key to the most prominent buildings was provided and it is interesting to see which buildings have survived until today, often with additions, and which had yet to be built. Robert Gordon's Hospital (now College), Marischal College, and various churches including the Triple Kirks and St Nicholas East and West are all still standing but the West Prison, Castlehill Barracks and the Poorhouse have been demolished.
Bird's Eye View 1889
In December 1889, the Aberdeen Free Press offered its readers an updated version of the Bird's Eye View as a supplement to their newspaper. Numerous changes to the landscape of the city had taken place since Wilson's view. Well of Spa
3108 A photograph of the Well of Spa in around 1969 at its second location, on Spa Street, in the western periphery wall of Woolmanhill Infirmary. This site is still identifiable today by the curving recess in the low wall and the now leveled out supporting wall, both shown in this image.
A digital copy of this image was kindly given to Aberdeen Local Studies by our colleagues in the Masterplanning, Design and Conservation Team.
It was the then Department of Planning and Building Control that oversaw the restoration and relocation of the structure to its current site outside Denburn Car Park in 1976/77. The plans were drawn up by Aberdeen City Council planner John Soutar. In reference to the well's Woolmanhill location he was quoted in the newspaper saying "The Victorians were great for shifting things and they weren't fussy where they put them."
The stone structure, which was built in around 1635, was previously located on the western side of Spa Street, in front of Garden-Nook Close. This location can be viewed on the 1867 Ordnance Survey town plan of Aberdeen (sheet LXXV.11.12) and in other photographs on this site.
The 1970s restoration and relocation of the well was advocated by councillor Frank Magee. The project, estimated to cost £4,500, was met with opposition and it was only given the go-ahead after considerable debate.
The restoration of the well was carried out by a masonry firm, based in Birnie, called Moray Stonecutters. It was temporarily transported to Elgin for the work. An additional £4,500 was spent in the creation of a new garden surrounding the well by a Job Creation team. It was called the Four Neukit Garden in reference to the old amenity gifted to Aberdeen, along with the original stone structure, by the portrait painter George Jamesone.
Coverage of work on the well can be read in local newspapers from the time. The finishing touches on the well's final relocation were reported in the Evening Express of Saturday, 22nd October 1977, page 16. March Stone 31 (plus Doupin' Stone)
3213 This stone is located in the same field north of Wynford. It is marked "31 ABD". The line of the marches from number 30 has left the Littlemill Burn, for the Blind Burn, and headed north a short distance.
The descriptions in 1525 and 1698 there had not been a marker stone here at those times. In 1780 two large earthfast stones were noted, both saucer marked.
It was here that new burgesses underwent the initiation of "doupin'", or being dropped onto the stone. This took place during the Riding of the Marches. The Doupin' cup stone is next to the lettered stone.
This is the north west corner of the Freedom Lands. However, the boundary line does go further north that this point; north east to stone number 34 at Greenwelltree, later Craibstone Golf Course.
A slide of this image was kindly lent to Aberdeen City Libraries by Colin Johnston so that we could create a digital copy for public use.
The image was taken in the early 1980s when Colin worked as a teacher at Bridge of Don Academy. He led several current and former pupils, and staff members in an investigation into the location, physical condition and public knowledge of Aberdeen's historic boundary markers. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3396 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Shiprow entrance to the Regal cinema in February 1961. The cinema is advertising showings of Saturday Night, Sunday Morning with Albert Finney, Linda with Carol White and Alan Rothwell, and Pathé News.
The Regal was opened on Monday 26th June 1954 by Associated British Cinema (ABC). The opening of this substantial cinema was the conclusion of a long and much delayed enterprise.
This Shiprow site was previously the location of Aberdeen's first permanent cinema, Dove Paterson's Gaiety. It had later become the Palladium and had laid shuttered for close to seven years when the owner put the site up for sale in early 1937.
Bert Gates of Aberdeen Picture Palaces (APP) put in an offer and made plans to build a very large cinema at the location. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) suggests that had this plan gone ahead it would have made the local company a force with which to be reckoned.
Gate's plans were thwarted however when another offer for the property from ABC (Cinemas) was accepted. ABC were a major cinema operator throughout the UK, at the time second only to the Rank Organisation, which owned the Odeon and Gaumont chains. ABC's arrival in Aberdeen would offer stiff competition to local companies such as APP. Both in terms of having the best venues and having the best films to show in them.
ABC's arrival in Aberdeen did not go smoothly, however. It was not until 1939 that the cinema's plans received official approval. War was declared not long after construction had begun and in 1941 the project was stopped by government restrictions that halted the construction of non-essential buildings where roofing had not already been started. Only the outer shell had been built at Shiprow and the building would subsequently lie incomplete for over a decade.
After much campaigning, including by local MP Hector Hughes, the government finally gave its consent and on 28th October 1953 ABC announced that work on the Regal would recommence. The plans for the cinema were modernised and construction was quickly finished.
The completed Regal was an impressive, modern cinema with a seating capacity of 1,914. Its inaugural film was The Knights of the Round Table and the opening gala was attended by stars Richard Todd and Anne Crawford.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3400 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the interior of the ABC Cinema on Shiprow and Union Street in 1976. This was shortly after the "tripling" of the cinema which was completed on 8th July 1974. This was the process of dividing the cinema's original, single large auditorium into three distinct screening rooms. This allowed cinemas to show a greater variety of films and to cater to smaller audience numbers. The Odeon on Justice Mill Lane had been the first cinema in Aberdeen to be tripled, reopening as such on 8th April 1974.
This photograph shows ABC 1, the largest screen, that sat 566 people. Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) explains that the largest screen (cinema one) would mainly show first runs. The smaller screens (cinemas two and three) would be used for less commercial attractions or the retention of popular features already shown in the main screen. This is the format of cinema exhibition that is most common today but marked a significant change from the tradition of single large auditoriums.
The tripling of major circuit cinemas like the ABC and Odeon had a knock-on effect on the viability of cinemas such as The Cosmo on Diamond Street. These smaller cinemas had previously been a home for the less commercial features that the larger venues were now taking on.
In 1986 the ABC Cinemas chain became part of the American-based Cannon company, which already had extensive cinema interests in the UK. The vertical ABC sign above the Union Street entrance gave way to the Cannon logo in June 1987.
Some highlights of the cinema's time as the Cannon included hugely popular runs of E.T., the Tim Burton Batman, and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. The cinema's name reverted to the ABC for a period before closing for the final time in early 1998.
Aberdeen and cinema-going was shortly to experience a period of expansion. In August 1999 Aberdeen company Craiglair Properties got the go-ahead to demolish the abandoned ABC and build a new seven screen cinema on the site. The cinema was called The Lighthouse and opened in April 2001. Since 2004 it has operated as The Vue Aberdeen.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picture House / Gaumont
3403 The Picture House was opened on 14th December 1914 with an inauguration ceremony chaired by Lord Provost James Taggart. It was built at 181 Union Street by the rapidly expanding English firm, Associated Provincial Picture Houses. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) explains that construction of the cinema was delayed due to the war.
As seen here in 1937, the cinema's entrance was dominated by two squat white marble finish pillars topped by bronze capitals. The atmosphere inside was said to be cosy and luxurious. After conversion, the pre-existing building on Union Street contained the cinema's large foyer and within this was retained a large, original fireplace to warm visitors.
The 900-seater auditorium stood side-on between Union Street and Windmill Brae. With a budget of £12,000, the Picture House was designed by English architects Robert Atkinson and George Alexander. Thomson explains that the architects were inspired along Classical theatre lines and the building featured dark wood walls hung with French tapestries. A large tea-room, called the Tapestry Room, took up the first floor of the Union Street building. Above that, on the top floor, was the manager's office.
Thomson suggests that an early strength of the Picture House was its highly competent orchestra, originally led by pianist W. G. Ross. These were pre-radio days, with recording still in its infancy, so the orchestral playing would have been a significant attraction.
The profits from the Picture House's first screening back in December 1914 were distributed to Aberdeen charities. The first talking picture to be shown at the cinema was The Singing Fool in 1929. The Picture House was an upscale operation and one of the key early venues for cinema exhibition in Aberdeen.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: Star Picture Palace
3409 A photograph of the Star Picture Palace at the junction of Park Street and South Constitution Street in the 1920s. The cinema was an undertaking of Bert Hedgley Gates in partnership with his wife Nellie and with financial backing from local businessmen. Bert Gates was among Aberdeen's most influential cinema proprietors. He would go on to be the founding managing director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, a highly successful company that would play a key role in cinema exhibition in the city.
The ever useful Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson details much of the history of the Star Picture Palace, known as The Star or Starrie, and the activities of Bert Gates. The cinema was converted from the former premises of the Aberdeen East End Mission. Its name was thought to come from a red-stained glass window in the shape of a star that was a legacy of its previous use. The Star's auditorium stood on the south side of South Constitution Street and its entrance, as shown here, was at 23 Park Street, underneath a block of tenements.
The cinema opened in March 1911 and showed a mixture of films and music. Bert and Nellie would stand behind the screen and add dialogue, sound effects and commentary to the silent films being shown. They also added topical references and allusions to well-known local figures. Both had backgrounds as stage artistes and their performances became a popular feature of the Star.
In 1913 the successful cinema was expanded, doubling its capacity, as Aberdeen Picture Palaces acquired the building and some houses to its rear. Thomson states that the remodelled Star was advertised as "Absolutely the Finest and Most Handsome Interior Out of Glasgow".
The Star had direct competition when the Casino cinema opened just around the corner on the north side of Wales Street on 7th February 1916. Thomson suggests that Gates responded to the Casino's popular and innovative cine-variety performances by programming his own varieties and mini revues. These included Miss Madge Belmont, "America's Handcuff Queen" and Birteno's Golden Grotto, "the most gorgeous electrical dance spectacle ever seen in Aberdeen - a display of serpentine and fire dancing by Belle Lumière, with marvellous kaleidoscopic colour effects".
The Star Picture Palace showed its first talkie, King of the Khyber Rifles, on 13th October 1930. In November 1932 the cinema suffered a fire caused by a dropped cigarette. The damage was relatively minor however and only put the Star out of action for a fortnight.
By the beginning of the second world war, the area around the Star was becoming depopulated as housing on Hanover Street and Albion Street was demolished to make way for the new Beach Boulevard. Bert Gates acquired control of the Casino in November 1939 with the idea of combining it with the Star to create one super-cinema that fronted onto the new thoroughfare.
Thomson explains that business was concentrated on the Casino and later that month the Star closed as a cinema for good. In 1939/40 it served as an indoor fun-fair and as the Boulevard Ballroom for the remainder of the war. The Star building was demolished, at the same time as the Casino, in 1971 to make way for a housing development.
Michael Thomson addresses the use of jam-jars for cinema admission in the first appendix to Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988). This includes an account of the Star Picture Palace from Ethel Kilgour who remembered going there as a child. Her description concludes as follows: "It was a great little cinema, jam-jar entry fee and all, and it was a form of escapism for so many children in a world so depressed between the wars".
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: Picturedrome / Cinema House
3411 The Cinema House was located at the corner of Union Terrace, Skene Terrace and North Silver Street. The building was designed by Arthur H. L. Mackinnon and originally built in 1897-1898 as a clubhouse for the Aberdeen Union Club. Mackinnon (1870-1937) was a local architect who also designed the Aberdeen Fire Station on King Street and Mile End School.
The building's first recorded use for cinematographic purposes was a New Year Holiday Carnival organised by the pioneering Aberdeen cinematographer and exhibitor William Walker in December 1901. Alongside an early picture show the extravaganza featured the popular fiddler James Scott Skinner and a conjurer called Harry Marvello.
It was a Londoner by the name of Henry N. Philips who came to Aberdeen and in June 1910 converted this building into Aberdeen's second permanent cinema: the Picturedrome. The enterprise was a great success and Philip's formed a company called British Animated Pictures to run the cinema.
The 'Drome's first manager was Harry Fenton. He also appeared on the cinema's stage as a singer. This was a time when cinemas would often show a mixture of films and variety performances. The venue had a pianist called Hal Scott who would accompany performances and provided musical ambience.
The Picturedrome was noted for showing the film productions of Thomas Edison's Edison Studios and for consistently good stage turns.
In 1923 the Picturedrome/Union Club block was sold to the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds. They were one of the 19th century friendly societies in which people would band together prior to the development of more comprehensive welfare provision. The Shepherds continued to run the cinema for a period. A sign for the society can be seen in the top left of this image.
In May 1924 the cinema was taken over by James F. Donald. He was the patriarch of the Donald family that played a prominent role in the history of cinemas and theatres in Aberdeen. Restored and improved, the venue reopened on the 11th August of that year as the Cinema House. Donald initially held the premises on a 20-year lease, but would go on to buy the property outright.
This photograph, taken from in front of the Central Library, dates from around 1934 and shows the cinema advertising Father Brown Detective and The Lemon Drop Kid. Also visible next door at 2 Skene Terrace is a branch of the successful grocer and provision merchants, Wilburn Ltd.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Site of McKay's
3498 A photograph from 24th February 2021 showing the cleared former site of McKay's clothing shop at 29-31 Queen Street. The business relocated to new premises at 251-253 Great Northern Road in early 2020.
The Queen Street site was sold to Aberdeen City Council in 2019. The building was demolished in the early months of 2021 as a preliminary stage of the authority's Queen Street regeneration project.
The £150 million transformation includes plans for 300 new homes, a civic hub, cultural assets, enhanced heritage features and a high-quality public realm.
McKay's opened their two-floor premises on Queen Street on 25th March 1971. The family business, which has been on the go since the early 20th century, had previously occupied two other locations on Queen Street. The latter Queen Street premises was famous for its abundant and varied stock.
The eastern exterior wall of the building was the site of a large mural depicting a golfer by Norwegian artist Martin Whatson. This was created for Aberdeen's first Nuart festival in 2017 and sadly had to be demolished along with the building.
The rear of A. Marshall Mackenzie's Greyfriars Church of 1903 can be seen on the left of this image. Milne's Institution
4210 A photograph of the front, north elevation of Milne's Institution, now Milne's Primary School, in Fochabers, Moray.
A Neo-Tudor (Scots Elizabethan) quadrangular, 2 storey building, it was constructed to a design by architect Thomas Mackenzie in 1845-6.
This image likely dates from the 1970s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department. Conference of Scottish Savings Workers at Aberdeen
4294 A photographic group portrait of delegates from a conference of Scottish Savings Workers that took place in Aberdeen on 18th and 19th June 1920.
A newspaper article previewing the conference in the Aberdeen Daily Journal of 17th June 1920, page 4, states that 500 delegates from around Scotland were expected to attend.
The article indicates that this group photograph, taken in Union Terrace Gardens by photographer David Milne, of 158 King Street, was scheduled for 9.30am on Saturday 19th June. This was following an early morning trip to Aberdeen Fish Market and before the conference was to restart at 10.30am. The conference itself took place in Trinity Hall on Union Street.
The focus of the Scottish Savings Workers at the time included a campaign for the sale of certificates to repay a Anglo-French loan and extending the savings movement in schools and churches.
The Scottish Saving Committee, styled here as the Scottish Savings Workers, was started during World War I to raise funds with the sale of war bonds and saving certificates. They continued after the war, changing their focus to national recovery and the encouragement of thrift as an individual and societal good.
Document dimensions: 34 x 44 cm. Orphan Girls' Asylum
72 The Aberdeen Orphan Girls' Asylum was also know as Mrs Elmslie's Institute. It later became Aberdeen High School for Girls and is now Harlaw Academy.
The HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project tells us that during WWI the school was part of the 1st Scottish General Hospital. This was one of four Territorial Force military hospitals established during wartime in Scotland. Buildings belonging to three other schools (Central, Rosemount and Westfield) were also used by the hospital, as was the city's Oldmill Poorhouse.
Correspondent Ed Fowler provided the following comments:
"This sketch by architect Archibald Simpson features the beautiful building in the Italian style of Architecture.
The central statue depicted above the entrance was not realised. It was instituted in November 1840 "For Maintaining, Clothing and Educating Orphan Girls", born of Parents who have resided in the Parishes of St Nicholas, Old Machar, or Nigg, for some 3 Years prior to their decease. The girls were admitted from the age of 4 to 8 years.
The building of what was then the Girl's High School (now Harlaw Academy) was incorporated into the 1st Scottish General Hospital, one of 4 Territorial Force military hospitals established in WW1 in Scotland. The buildings of 3 other schools were used by the Hospital (the Central School (later Aberdeen Academy); Rosemount; and Westfield), as well as the City's Poorhouse, along with huts and tents. The hospitals provided beds for 34 officers and 1,385 other ranks." |