A photograph showing 13 Skene Square in the late 19th century. This tenement is thought to be the birthplace of the genre and portrait painter John Phillip (1817-1867).

The image is included as a plate in Historical Aberdeen: the Castle and the Castle-hill, the Snow Church, the Woolmanhill and neighbourhood, the Guestrow by G. M. Fraser (1905).

Fraser indicates that the tablet that can be seen above the door was put up in memory of John Phillip by his friend William Brodie (1815-1881), the sculptor.

Fraser elaborates as follows:
"The first plate on the house, 13 Skene Square, was placed there by William Brodie, the sculptor. that house was pulled down six years ago, but fortunately Mr George Watt, architect, the proprietor of the house erected on the spot, has, with much public spirit, placed a bronze tablet on the new house telling that Phillip's house stood on that site. I wish we could be absolutely certain that Phillip was born here. There can be no doubt that he lived here as a child, but it suggestive that in the detailed notices of Phillip in the Aberdeen papers at the time of his death, it was said that he was born in Windy Wynd, where his father was a shoemaker. See Aberdeen Journal, 6th March, 1867; Aberdeen Free Press, 1st March, 1867.

Location

Aberdeen City Centre

Keyword

Buildings, General Buildings

Photographer