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Summary

Description

1899. Single storey, rectangular-plan pavilion, overlooking links golf course. Painted, rough-hewn timber to SE and SW. Broad overhanging eaves supported by braced, timber columns to form veranda. Herringbone-pattern timber panels to dado, vertically arranged timber above. 2-leaf panelled timber and glazed doors; geometric fanlights.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: doorway off-centre to left, flanked by windows; tripartite windows with timber mullions to right; broad opening to left with plain 2-leaf doors; continuous timber bench.

SW ELEVATION: boarded timber door flanked by single fixed 4-pane windows; bipartite window with timber mullions and transoms to outer right enclosing veranda, coloured glazing to upper panes. Lean-to set back to left.

NW ELEVATION: lean-to with door to right,

NE ELEVATION: doorway flanked by windows and further window to right. Lean-to with blinded single window advanced to outer right, panelled timber door to return.

Predominantly geometric-pattern to upper sashes; 4-pane lower sashes, in timber windows; 6-pane glazing to lean-to. Red tiled piended roof, replacement slates to NE pitch and lean-to; decorative terracotta ridging and finials.

INTERIOR: (seen 2013) largely unaltered plan. Two principal rooms lined with vertically boarded timber, timber cill course, timber roof trusses and sarking. Store room to SW; toilet facilities to lean-to section.

Statement of Special Interest

An unusual and rare surviving example of a Starters Box on a golf course, with geometric glazing and a veranda. The rough-hewn treatment of the timber and the herringbone pattern to the panels gives the starters box a distinctive rustic appearance.

The pavilion was constructed for the Cruden Bay Hotel, a resort hotel built and managed by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company. The hotel promoted itself as a health resort and offered visitors facilities for sea bathing and boating, tennis, bowling, croquet and golf. The pavilion was located to the SW of the hotel, adjacent to the tennis court and golf course and near to the bowling green, and therefore probably served as a general sporting pavilion.

The hotel opened in March 1899, two years after the Ellon to Boddam railway line was fully operational. Visitors would board an electric tram from the station to take them to the "palace of the sand-hills" a Scottish baronial hotel, similar to the company's other hotels in Aberdeen: the Station Hotel, Guild Street (see separate listing) and the Palace Hotel, Union and Bridge Street. The 18 hole links course, was commissioned in 1894 and designed by the eminent Tom Morris, assisted by Archie Simpson. Together with a nine hole ladies course the course was fully opened in April 1899, with a two day tournament won by the reigning British Open Champion, Harry Cardon.

A decline in visitors numbers and the discontinuing of passenger trains to Cruden in 1932 resulted in the closure of the hotel. It was used by the army in WWII, and the company sold the hotel in July 1947 to Glasgow demolition contractor John R Adam and Sons. The golf course was saved by a group of local businesses and the sports pavilion is still in use as the starters' hut.

Scotland is intrinsically linked with the sport of golf and it was the birthplace of the modern game played over 18 holes. The 'Articles and Laws in Playing Golf', a set of rules whose principles still underpin the game's current regulations, were penned in 1744 by the Company of Gentlemen Golfers (now The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers). Improved transport links and increased leisure time as well as a rise in the middle classes from the mid 19th century onwards increased the popularity of the sport with another peak taking place in the early 1900s.

At the time of writing, the governing body for amateur golf in Scotland, the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), reported around 550 golf courses in Scotland, representing a total membership of approximately 236,000 golf club members. Interestingly, 7 of the 14 venues where the Open Championship is held are in Scotland. Scotland has produced a number of famous golf sporting personalities - historically, James Braid and Tom Morris were the pioneers of their time.

List description updated as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13).

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