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Broad Street
665 Broad Street. These buildings were demolished in the early 1900's to make way for the extension to Marischal College and the construction of its frontage. The gateway at the left led through to the College and to Greyfriars Church. The building with the clock was at one time the storage point for Aberdeen's water supply. The clock was removed to the City Hospital. The tenement on the far right was once home to the future Lord Byron and his mother while he attended the old Grammar School in Schoolhill. Future site of Central School (Aberdeen Academy)
697 The block of buildings in the centre of this photo are seen prior to their demolition about 1901. The site had been acquired by Aberdeen School Board for a new central higher grade school. It was to have a frontage along Schoolhill and Belmont Street of 145 feet. The Central School, renamed Aberdeen Academy, was closed in 1970, and has been converted into the Academy Shopping Centre (1999). The small building tucked in next to the tall gable end was not demolished. It was built in 1769 for James Dun, rector of Aberdeen Grammar School which was then situated opposite these buildings. The house was acquired by the School Board to house the caretaker and was later used as classrooms. In 1975, it was restored for use, initially as a children's museum and named James Dun's House. It was subsequently used as offices for Aberdeen City Council and later as a spa and shop. Westburn Park and House in 1910
2122 Westburn House was designed in 1839 by the architect, Archibald Simpson, for David Chalmers of the printing family who published the Aberdeen Journal newspaper.
It is a single storey building, with a 2-storey centre gable at the north and a portico of Doric pillars on the west side. It is constructed of brick with a stucco finish.
The 25-acre estate was bought by Aberdeen Town Council in 1900. The lands, which had in early times been used for sheep grazing, were now converted into a public park. The vegetable garden became a recreation ground; the stables and carriage sheds now stored tools; the walled flower garden and orchard were laid out as a bowling green. A pond was created from the burn which runs through the grounds.
The house was first used as refreshment rooms and the veranda, with its wrought iron columns, was added to allow people to enjoy their teas and coffees in the open air. Since then, it has had many uses including a clinic and meeting place for playgroups. Its future is currently under discussion by the City Council.
Westburn Park opened to the public in around May 1901. See Aberdeen Journal 11th May 1901, page 4, and articles thereabouts, for details. There does not appear to have been an official opening ceremony. Westburn Park
2126 A group of children stand outside Westburn House. To the right of the image is the park's drinking fountain.
Westburn House was designed in 1839 by the architect, Archibald Simpson, for David Chalmers of the printing family who published the "Aberdeen Journal" newspaper.
It is a single storey building, with a 2-storey centre gable at the north and a portico of Doric pillars on the west side. It is constructed of brick with a stucco finish.
The 25-acre estate was bought by Aberdeen Town Council in 1900. The lands, which had in early times been used for sheep grazing, were now converted into a public park. The vegetable garden became a recreation ground; the stables and carriage sheds now stored tools; the walled flower garden and orchard were laid out as a bowling green. A pond was created from the burn which runs through the grounds.
The house was first used as refreshment rooms and the veranda, with its wrought iron columns, was added to allow people to enjoy their teas and coffees in the open air. Since then, it has had many uses including a clinic and meeting place for playgroups. Its future is currently under discussion by the City Council. 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. Lord Provost Collie at Aberdeen Joint Station
2645 In the 1980s, long distance train travel started to become popular again. The High Speed Trains on the East Coast route to London were the stars of the new fleet. Lord Provost Collie gave the accelerated "Flying Scotsman" service to London Kings Cross a send-off in June 1981. Aberdeen Theatres: The Music Hall and Union Street
3372 The Music Hall opened in 1822 as Aberdeen's Assembly Rooms and was designed by Archibald Simpson; the building was originally intended as a place for the elite to socialise.
In 1858, the Aberdeen Music Hall Company bought the building and a large concert hall was added, reopening as the Aberdeen Music Hall in September 1859. The building was refurbished in the mid 1980's, spending more than £2.5 million, and reopening in 1986.
The Music Hall has been run by Aberdeen Performing Arts since 2004 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2009.
The latest renovations took place between 2016 and 2018 and the Music hall has been a vibrant part of Aberdeen since then, welcoming artists and entertainers. Aberdeen Theatres: Aberdeen Arts Centre
3386 In 1960 the education committee of Aberdeen Town Council proposed the conversion of the empty North and Trinity Parish Church into an adult education and civic arts centre. The plan was given final approval in February 1961, much to the delight of Aberdeen's art enthusiasts.
The Evening Express detailed the need for such a venue at the time by describing the difficulties faced by the William Gavin Players, a local drama group, in staging a play earlier that week in the ballroom of the Music Hall. They had to overcome the roar of a nearby wrestling audience, the incessant ringing of an unanswered telephone, a cramped stage and poor acoustics.
A temporary restriction on capital expenditure and a particularly severe winter caused delays for the conversion. Work began in late 1961 and was concluded by the autumn of 1963. The work cost around £33,000 and saw the reconstruction of the interior and a thorough re-vamp for the building's exterior. At one point the new centre was going to be called Longacre, but this idea was scrapped in favour of Aberdeen Arts Centre.
The completed venue was opened on 18th October 1963 by Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968), an art critic, poet and anarchist philosopher. In his speech Read criticised the main political parties of the day for neglecting the development of the arts and the human imagination in favour of a blind drive for scientific and technological efficiency.
In addition to the 385-seat auditorium, the venue had an exhibition space, a lounge, and a tea bar. The Arts Centre has remained the focal point for local arts groups and arts education to this day. It has also served as a meeting place and provided a useful stage for theatrical productions of all types.
In 1998, facing the need to cut £17.5 million from their budget, Aberdeen City Council withdrew their funding from the Arts Centre. This left the future of the venue in danger. A popular campaign to avoid its closure was led by Annie Inglis MBE (1922-2010), Aberdeen's first lady of theatre.
This led to the Aberdeen Arts Centre Association taking over the venue on a voluntary basis and the eventual formation of the Castlegate Arts Limited, a company with charitable status who continue to run the venue today.
Over the years the Arts Centre has played host to many noted local theatre groups like the Attic Theatre Co., The Revue Group, the aforementioned William Gavin Players, Phoenix Theatre, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Aberdeen Opera Company, Confederate Theatre, Dragongate Theatre, and no doubt many more. It remains a much-loved venue for performers and audiences of all ages. Aberdeen Cinemas: Electric / Capitol
3401 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Capitol cinema at 431 Union Street in February 1980. At this time the Capitol was in more regular use as a concert venue than as a cinema. This image shows large numbers of people queuing to get tickets for a performance by the band Genesis.
The Capitol was built as a cinema back in 1933. A few days before its opening, it was advertised in local papers as "Aberdeen's wonder cinema". Opened to large crowds on Saturday 4th February 1933, the Capitol was then the largest venue of its kind in the north of Scotland and had a stage that could be adapted for both film and variety entertainment.
The Capitol was built by Aberdeen Picture Palaces Ltd. on the site of an earlier upmarket cinema called the Electric Theatre that dated from 1910. When the Capitol opened, it was regarded as the most up-to-date theatre in the country due to its complex lightning system, organ music and other modern features, some of them being introduced for the first time in Scotland.
The venue could accommodate more than 2,000 people. The building's plans were prepared by Aberdeen architects Alexander Marshall MacKenzie and Clement George. Local newspapers stressed the local ownership of the cinema and the local craftsmanship that went into its construction.
Aberdeen City Libraries hold a souvenir brochure of the cinema's opening. One interesting feature of the brochure is the inclusion of specially created adverts for all the companies involved in the construction and furnishing of the new cinema. Some of the adverts provide rich information on the history of the companies and give an insight into how the companies saw themselves. The brochure details the companies behind every aspect of the buildings from the cinema seating and terrazzo work to the innovative lighting.
On the opening day, Mrs A. D. Hay, wife of the chairman of the Aberdeen Picture Palaces, unlocked the main entrance door with a gold key. This key is still held by the Hay family today. The cinema's first, busy evening featured a variety of entertainment. In addition to the showing of films, there was a ballet performance by the Henrietta Fuller Dancers and Mr Edward O' Henry played the theatre's new top of the line Compton organ.
During the opening ceremony, Bert Gates, another director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, said: "It was a long lane that had no turning. They had built the Capitol not for to-day, but for the generations of Aberdeen people to come. The company had dedicated the Capitol to the people of Aberdeen, their children, and their children's children in the hope that in generations to come they might appreciate what had been given them."
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Electric / Capitol
3402 A photograph showing the Capitol façade in January 2021.
By the 1960s and 70s the Capitol was increasingly being used as a venue for live events. Michael Thomson credits its survival over the Majestic, closed down in September 1973, as due to the Capitol's superior stage facilities. The Donald family, the venue owners, had the stage enlarged in 1975.
Appearances by popular groups like the Bay City Rollers in 1974 suggested the future for the venue at the time. The Capitol also saw performances by the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Queen, Boyzone and Chuck Berry among many others. The Capitol ceased showing films in 1995.
The Capitol contained a restaurant, and subsequently bar, in the cinema's former café area around this period. 1993 saw the opening of the Art Deco and cinema themed bar Oscars in this space.
The Capitol functioned as a wonderful venue giving North-East audiences the chance to see top performers for many years. It became increasingly uneconomic to run and the curtain finally came down on the venue on Monday 15th December 1997.
The building was later converted into a nightclub and restaurant called Jumping Jaks and the Chicago Rock Café that opened in around 2003. These closed down in 2008 and the Capitol laid empty for some time.
In 2013 Knight Property Group began plans to redevelop the site as a modern office complex. The £30m project retained and restored the cinema's original façade and employed an Art Deco style in its foyer entrance to reference the history of the building. The venue's auditorium that had been much altered and had fallen into disrepair was demolished. The launch of the new office complex was held on 10th June 2016. 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: 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. His Majesty's Theatre: Glass panel drawings
3480 Drawings of the coloured glass panels at HMT. These drawings were made of the 360 panes by the then technical director Edi Swan in case there was any damage or breakage in the future. [Image from the Aberdeen Performing Arts Archive.]
Pitmedden Garden
4207 A photograph showing three boys admiring the fountain at Pitmedden Garden.
Pitmedden Garden is a Natural Trust for Scotland property. Their website describes it as a "re-created Scottish Renaissance walled garden with vibrant floral designs and Museum of Farming Life."
Concerning its history, the website states "the Great Garden dates back to 1675 when it was originally laid out by Sir Alexander Seton." [...] "In the 1950s Pitmedden was gifted to the Trust who re-created the garden based on 17th-century plans after it was ploughed up to grow vegetables during the Second World War and used as a kitchen garden for over 100 years."
This fountain is detailed in an entry on Historic Environment Scotland's CANMORE website (CANMORE ID: 338622). Quoting a guide pamphlet by Dr James Richardson, designer of the garden restoration, it states "In the re-creation of the Great Garden of Pitmedden, the National Trust for Scotland not only has established once again the site of the original fountain but it has erected a further fountain as a focal point in the centre of the Great garden. The sculptured stones that compose this second fountain have an interesting history as seven of them formed, at one time, part of the Cross Fountain of Linlithgow designed and executed by Robert Milne, King's Master Mason, to commemorate King Charles II's Restoration. These detached fragments were given by the Ministry of Works. Three fragments of the original Pitmedden construction have also been worked into the composition of the fountain."
Looking west, a stairway up to Pitmedden's terrace garden and Pitmedden House can be seen in the background.
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. Aberdeen Market 20 - view from foyer area
4396 This photograph by Roddy Millar looks west down the main corridor of the Aberdeen Market building.
It gives a good representation of the initial view a visitor would encounter having came in via the large Market Street entrance, located to the rear of this image.
On the left can be seen Ai to Ai, offering cosmetic treatments for eyelashes and eyebrows, Aberdeen Vinyl Records is further on, identifiable by the baskets of records, then D&S Discounts and Dream Beauty Studio at the very rear.
On the right, starting at the back and coming forward, is Outfits, Combo Café & Restaurant, Liberty Hair and the Market Heel & Key Bar in the foreground.
The Market Heel & Key Bar offer shoe repairs, watch batteries, luggage, shopper trolleys, belts, key cutting and slippers. Due to the closure of the Market, this business moved to nearby premises at 88 Union Street.
Photograph taken on 26/02/2019. Aberdeen Market 21 - foyer area by main entrance
4397 A Roddy Millar photograph looking north across the foyer area within the Aberdeen Market's main entrance. The doors to Market Street are partially shown on the right.
Two businesses within the Market are shown: the Market Key & Heel Bar, in unit 48 on the left, and Smart Mobile, directly ahead.
Smart Mobile, in unit 38, specialised in mobile phone repairs and selling mobile accessories. The back wall of the unit seen here is adorned with many phone cases.
Due to the closure of the Market, both of the businesses shown here moved to new premises at 88 Union Street.
On the right of the image, next to the Market Street doors, a blue plaque with the building's opening hours can be seen.
Photograph taken on 26/02/2019. Treasure 9: Sketch of Proposed Denburn Gardens
179 The future of Union Terrace Gardens has been the subject of much debate over the years and its original development also led to much discussion in Town Council meetings and in the local newspapers.
In 1868, the architect James Matthews suggested that the area of Union Terrace should be turned into a pleasure ground for the people and the following year this "Sketch of the Proposed Denburn Gardens", drawn by the land surveyor James Forbes Beattie, was published. It includes the area between Belmont Street to Union Terrace and from Union Street to the Royal Infirmary, Woolmanhill.
The gardens are shown laid out with paths and shrubbery but Beattie has also depicted the buildings in the surrounding streets, including the recently completed Belmont Street Congregational Church. Further to the north can be seen the spire and complex of the three churches built for the West, South and East Free Church congregations in 1843-44. The buildings which remain are currently known as the Triple Kirks.
A pedestrian bridge crosses the railway towards Union Terrace and the row of houses known as Denburn Terrace. These were demolished under the City Improvements Scheme of 1883 which eventually led to the construction of Rosemount Viaduct and would have stood on the site of the ornamental plot opposite the Central Library.
This plan acts as a snapshot of the area and provides an interesting comparison with the modern layout of the streets surrounding the Gardens.
After much discussion and negotiation with neighbouring proprietors, the Town Council sanctioned work on laying out the Gardens on the land between the wooded bank at Union Terrace and the railway. Work began in November 1877 and, when the gates were finally opened to the public on 11 August 1879, the band of Gordon's Hospital (forerunner of Robert Gordon's College) played a "selection of pleasing airs" prior the opening ceremony. The official name was now Union Terrace Gardens but it was more popularly known to generations of visitors as the "Trainie Park". Treasure 79: Cosmo Mitchell Collection
290 Adam "Cosmo" Mitchell was born at Kennethmont in 1860. Raised on a croft, little is known of his early childhood but by the age of 21, he had become a dancing master teaching in several areas near his home.
By the end of 1881, Mitchell had brought his dance classes to Aberdeen. Using rooms in the Music Hall for instruction, he taught children and adults in increasingly popular classes.
His professional associations with local schools, as well as local, regional and international societies, also helped strengthen his professional reputation and furthered his integrity as an authority on dancing and, by 1895-6, he was creating his own dances.
Mitchell joined the newly-formed Imperial Society of Dance Teachers in 1904. By the following year, he had been elected as vice-president and continued to be re-elected in that post for many years.
In 1915, Mitchell published A Guide to Ballroom Dancing. In 1919, Mitchell's wife died. A key part of his business life, the loss of his wife led to the immediate cessation of his teaching in schools. By 1924, he had retired from teaching altogether. Mitchell died in 1932 and bequeathed his entire professional library of dance textbooks, notebooks and ephemera to Aberdeen City Libraries.
Our Treasure showcases some of the items from this collection. Patricia Ballantyne produced a thesis on the development of Scottish dance, utilising much of the Cosmo Mitchell collection. Her thesis Regulation and Reaction is available to view in the Information Centre. It is largely due to her research that we are able to explore the life of this little-known local celebrity.
Find out about the marketing ploys adopted by Mitchell, and the origins of his middle name, in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on the touchscreens in Central, Airyhall, Tillydrone and Mastrick libraries. Aberdeen Harbour plans by John Smeaton
523 This plate of two coloured plans was included in the book The reports by Smeaton, Rennie, and Telford, upon the Harbour of Aberdeen. Printed and circulated by order of the Harbour Trustees (Aberdeen: G. Cornwall, Herald Office, 1834).
This volume contains two reports by Smeaton, dated 19th February 1770 and 22nd March 1799, respectively, plus a letter by him concerning the Harbour from the same date as the 2nd report.
The two plans are titled Plan of the Harbour of Aberdeen as it was in 1769 and Plan of the Harbour with its Alterations, as proposed 1787 by J. Smeaton.
Different versions of these plans can be found reproduced in the earlier book Reports of the late John Smeaton, F.R.S. made on various occasions, in the course of his employment as a civil engineer, volume III, (London, 1812). These other versions are also available to view on this website.
Smeaton, along with John Rennie and Thomas Telford, was a key engineer in the development of the modern harbour of Aberdeen. Smeaton's most crucial improvement was the construction of the North Pier, completed in around 1780.
A copy of The reports by Smeaton, Rennie, and Telford, upon the Harbour of Aberdeen. Printed and circulated by order of the Harbour Trustees (1834) is held by Aberdeen City Libraries in our Local Studies reserve stock. |