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Upper Dock
52 A photograph showing many large sailing ships in the Upper Dock of Aberdeen Harbour. This image looks north west towards the junction of Market and Guild Street from Regent Road (near the start of Blaikie's Quay).
The prominent granite building in the background was at the corner of this junction at 62-68 Market Street. It was a warehouse and offices with shops on the ground floor. The site was redeveloped for the office blocks that can be seen today in around the early 1980s. This block may have been demolished at that time.
Prior to the late 19th century continuing development of Market Street and the creation of Provost Jamieson's Quay, the south side of the Upper Dock was the site of various ship building yards, with timber yards behind.
The ship shown in front of the building is the City of Aberdeen. It was built in 1862 by John Duthie, Sons & Co. for the China trade. It was altered to barque rigging in 1877 and this be the period of this photograph. The ship has an entry on the Aberdeen Built Ships website here. Treasure 35: Notes and Jottings of G.M. Fraser
2323 George Milne Fraser had a lifelong interest and expertise in local history; delivering talks (as seen in the December 2015 Treasure), publishing books and numerous letters and articles in the local press. His 'Notes and Jottings' collection comprise over 70 volumes, mostly hand written (including a form of shorthand), which are a treasure trove of information about the local area.
Within these notebooks are newspaper articles and advertisements, photographs, personal correspondence, sketches and many other interesting bits and pieces. Library staff have compiled an index to this invaluable resource and consult it on a regular basis when researching enquiries. It is quite a challenge deciphering his handwriting sometimes!
As a journalist by profession, G. M. Fraser retained his talent for writing and contributed articles to the Aberdeen Free Press, Bon Accord and Northern Pictorial, Evening Gazette, and journals such as the Deeside Field.
His contributions to local literature began in 1904 with the publication of The Green. Historical Aberdeen appeared the following year and after Aberdeen Street Names in 1911 the Town Clerk Depute wrote to Fraser with the words "We must now regard you as our Principal Historian".
The Life and Work of G. M. Fraser
G. M. Fraser was appointed city librarian in 1899 and was the second public librarian in Aberdeen. He can be seen on the far right of this image from the library archive.
His name was known all over the north east and he was mentioned in the chorus of one of Harry Gordon's popular songs, The Auldest Aiberdonian: "I ken lots o' stories G. M. Fraser disna ken". On 30 October 1923 he gave a 15 minute talk on the radio about Castlegate, becoming the first librarian in Aberdeen to make a radio broadcast.
During his term of office there were many developments in the Library service:
- The Central Library was extended in 1905 to include a new reading room
- Branch reading rooms and delivery stations were established throughout the city
- The Juvenile Library in Skene Street opened in 1911
- Open access was introduced in the Lending Library 1925 (find out more about Open Access libraries in the October treasures!)
- Fraser's strongest legacy is the Local Studies collection, which still contains many of our treasures.
G. M. Fraser was remembered very fondly after his death on 7 June 1938. There were many tributes including one from the Library Committee. Perhaps one of the warmest tributes was paid by his successor as City Librarian, Marcus Milne:
"Somehow the Library and G.M. were one. You could not think of the Library without thinking of that kindly figure who was head of it; and one could not meet him without thinking of the building he graced for so long. Mr Fraser had 2 hobbies and work was both of them. He lived for nothing else. The library was ever uppermost in his thoughts and closely allied to his love for the Library was his great love for things Aberdeen".
Mr Fraser's funeral service was attended by many prominent city officials and floral wreaths included one from Lady Aberdeen with the inscription "In affectionate and grateful remembrance of a much valued friend". He is buried in Springbank Cemetery.
In 1955, Aberdeen's first post-war permanent branch library was opened at Northfield and named the G. M. Fraser Branch Library in his honour.
In further recognition of his contribution to the development of the Library service, a commemorative plaque can be found on the front of the Central Library building. Aberdeen Cinemas: West End / Playhouse
3415 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Playhouse at 475 Union Street in January 1959. The venue originally opened on 12th November 1915 as a cinema called the West End. This was the first venture into full-time picture-hall proprietorship by James F. Donald, a key figure in the history of independent cinema exhibition in Aberdeen.
Donald was born in Newhills and came to Aberdeen for an apprenticeship with a coachbuilding firm. He had a varied career before coming to prominence as a highly successful dancing teacher. He was the leader of the Gondolier School of Dancing and Deportment.
He moved into the cinema business after acquiring the necessary projecting equipment and occupying a former billiard hall above the Aberdeen Dairy at 475 Union Street. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) describes the cinema as a "strictly utilitarian affair", but a successful one at that. It was only heated by stoves, and coupled with being above a diary, it became known as "The Tuppenny Freezer".
Donald's lease on the cinema expired in September 1920 and he was immediately followed as proprietor by Bert Gate's Aberdeen Picture Palaces. It was a time of expansion for the incoming company. They had recently purchased The Picturedrome on Skene Terrace and shortly looked to transform the West End. The latter closed on 2nd April and reopened on 14th September 1921 as the 1,000-seater Picture Playhouse.
The opening ceremony was attended by Gates, the cinema's architects George Sutherland and Clement George, and various local VIPs. The opening films were A Yankee in the Court of King Arthur, a comedy called Jerry on the Spot, Pathé news, and another short. Thomson states that Aberdeen Picture Palaces were "now the proud possessor of a large, well-situated 'flagship' house, and Union Street now sported a fine up-to-date cinema."
The design of the Playhouse was "classical" and up-market, in accordance with its prominent west-end location. As seen here, the Union Street entrance was surrounded by white Sicilian marble facings on a black marble base. The paybox was oval in shape with one end in the vestibule and the other in the front foyer.
The main foyer was through the Union Street part of the building and up a 12-feet wide carpeted, marble stairway. This way was a tea room called the Ingleneuk, the manager's office, and the ornately decorated auditorium. The plush new cinema represented competition for the nearby Picture House.
Bert Gates, the manager of the Playhouse, was somewhat sceptical of the talkies but fully embraced the new development in February 1930 with the installation of a full Western Electric sound system.
The opening of Aberdeen Picture Palace's Capitol down the road in 1933 saw a reduction in ticket prices at the Playhouse. The two partner cinemas were advertised at the time as "Aberdeen's Premier Pair".
On 23 May 1941 it was announced that James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. had bought a controlling interest in Aberdeen Picture Palaces. This meant that the Playhouse, along with the other APP venues, were now in the Donald circuit of cinemas.
This photograph dates from 1959 shortly before the cinema was relaunched as the Playhouse Continental, showing popular, often more risqué, films from Europe. This only lasted for a couple of years and the cinema reverted to being the Playhouse in 1961. This photograph shows the cinema advertising The Wind Cannot Read with Dirk Bogarde and All for Mary.
By 1973 the profitability of the Playhouse was eroded by spiralling costs. The owners of the building, builders James Scott & Son, had moved premises and were looking to dispose of the Union Street property. The cinema's lease was terminated at the end of 1973 and the cinema closed on 9th May 1974. Ownership of the block passed to Devanha Properties Ltd. and after lying empty for a few months the Playhouse was demolished to make way for a new block of shops and offices.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. |