Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

UNION STREET, SOUTH SILVER STREET AND GOLDEN SQUARE, MUSIC HALLLB19991

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
28/02/1962
Local Authority
Aberdeen
Planning Authority
Aberdeen
Burgh
Aberdeen
NGR
NJ 93745 6064
Coordinates
393745, 806064

Description

Archibald Simpson, 1820; large hall added by James Matthews 1858-9, murals by Robert Douglas Strachan 1899 to circa 1909; restored 1986. Centrally sited, notable monumental tall single storey and single-storey with attic, 5-bay, neo-Greek Aberdeen civic building with hexastyle Ionic portico and fine interiors. Grey granite, polished and dressed. Raised base course and cill course, plain entablature rising into blocking course. Plain angle pilasters, lugged architraves, shallow aprons. Square- and segmental-arched windows.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: principal SE elevation to Union Street has steps up to portico with plain tympanum, large 2-leaf panelled timber door and decoratively-astragalled fanlight at centre and tall windows in flanking bays. Long return elevation to NE with regular 7-bay fenestration, flanked by blind niche at outer left and taller bays at outer right incorporating consoled doorpiece. Taller elevation to NW with long, stepped flat-roof single storey entrance bays projecting at ground, and largely regular segmental-arched fenestration to 2-storeys at set-back face.

Multi-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows throughout.

INTERIOR: spacious well preserved classically-detailed interior, handsomely treated throughout with fine plasterwork, timberwork and fireplaces. Steps up from vestibule lead to ionic-columned saloon with elliptical dome and pilastered T-projection promenade with coffered ceiling. To left of promenade Corinthian-columned Round Room (café) with centre oculus, and Square Room (Concert Bar) with anta order and dome; service rooms in former ballroom space with segmentally-arched ceiling to right. Promenade leads to rectangular-plan Music Hall, also with vestibule at North Silver Street, with stage and full-organ at W end, gallery on cast iron columns with decorative bowed ironwork front and raked seats to E, elaborate coomb ceiling with elliptic and circular decoration; murals include 'Apollo and the Muses' above organ, Orpheus theme and pre-Raphaelite 'Muses'? by Hugh Adam Crawford, 1949. Staircases with decorative ironwork balusters flank saloon.

Statement of Special Interest

Archibald Simpson's competition winning design for the Aberdeen Assembly Rooms was awarded a prize of 50 guineas, and with the high quality Music Hall addition by James Matthews, it is now recognised as "One of the most celebrated buildings of monumental Aberdeen" (MacInnes). Occupying a prominent city centre site linking Union Street to Golden Square, the "model for the Assembly Rooms was based on the aristocratic idea of a country-house party brought into the genteel public realm ... Entry was by subscription" (MacInnes, p66). Simpson's architecture was rivalled only by John Smith at a time when Aberdeen was embracing classicism, particularly neo-Greek, as a style particularly suited to the clean lines of granite.

At the Annual Race Meeting held at Aberdeen Links in 1818, the proposal to build Public Assembly Rooms was successful and subscriptions soon amounted to some £7000. Boasting some prestigious names, including the Duke of Gordon and George Skene of Skene, the committee offered three prizes for competition designs and the foundation stone was laid by the Right Honourable James, Earl of Fife, in April 1820. The building was complete by 1822 and cost £11,500. By 1858, after some financial difficulties, it was sold to the newly formed Aberdeen Music Hall Company. The new Music Hall was soon added, and was visited on 14 September 1859 by the Prince Consort. In September 1896 Aberdeen's first 'kinematograph' screening took place at the Music Hall, but by 1928 the Company had failed and the buildings were sold to the Town of Aberdeen for £34,000. By the mid 1960s the Music Hall was in danger of being demolished, but its quality was recognised by eminent conductor Sir John Barbirolli who said "This hall is the best from the acoustic point of view in which I have ever conducted". A Public Enquiry in 1973 ruled that no major changes could be made to the Round and Square Rooms or the Concert Hall, and in August 1983 the District Council recommended complete restoration and refurbishment. More than £2.5 million was spent on refurbishments from 1984-86, at which time the murals were uncovered, and the building re-opened on 12 May 1986. Since 2004 the Music Hall has been successfully run by Aberdeen Performing Arts, and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2009.

List description updated as part of the Theatres Thematic Study 2010.

References

Bibliography

Jim Pratt The Music Hall - A Short History (2008). Ranald MacInnes The Aberdeen Guide (2000), pp30, 42, 66. W A Brogden Aberdeen An Illustrated Architectural Guide (1998), pp98-9. New Statistical Account Vol 12, P104. Aberdeen Journal 22 December 1819.

References from previous list description: APSD. Wilson, Delineation of Aberdeen p60. Chapman & Riley.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 21:43