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

42-44 UNION TERRACE, 3 SKENE TERRACE AND 26 NORTH SILVER STREET, UNION HALLLB20691

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
06/03/1992
Local Authority
Aberdeen
Planning Authority
Aberdeen
Burgh
Aberdeen
NGR
NJ 93669 6296
Coordinates
393669, 806296

Description

Arthur H L Mackinnon, 1897-8; Free Edwardian Baroque clubhouse and hall for Aberdeen Union Club; hall converted as Picturedome Cinema, 1910, restored with present Art Deco cinema auditorium 1924 (and renamed Cinema House).

Plan comprises long rectangular theatre/hall to W with long elevation to North Silver Street and entrance elevation to Skene Terrace; quarter-circle plan block to N, turning corner at Union and Skene Terraces with deep bowed 3-window cuved angle, originally containing shops at ground, offices and leisure rooms above.

Mainly polished granite ashlar, with picked ashlar and rough hewn ashlar to W (hall) block. 3-storey and attic to principal elevations, architraved windows, 1st floor windows with triangular pediments or cornices, 2nd floor windows mostly mannered with blocked rustication; mostly plate glass sash and case windows, cill bands, deep cornice and parapet, partly balustraded; pitched slated roof, axial stacks.

UNION TERRACE ELEVATION: 3-bay sweeping into curve of 3-window corner section, left hand bay advanced. Ground; entrance left hand bay with elaborate pilastered and corniced entrance, obelisk finials over clasping pilasters framing arched, cavetto moulded doorpiece with mannered pendant keyblock; 2-leaf doors and multi-paned fanlight of later date. Modern shopfront below original fascia to right; 1st floor architraved and corniced, pedimented at left hand bay; 2nd floor windows have blocked rusticated architeaves; solid parapet over left-hand bay, balustraded over right hand bays.

Entrance to centre of 3-window curved angle, giving access (now and originally) to ground floor shop. Original 6-panel, 2 leaf doors with raised roundels in panels, tall plain fanlight; entrance flanked by pilasters, and modern glazing of shop windows, set within original fascia. 3 pedimented windows at 1st, 3 blocked rusticated windows at 2nd; French Pavilion roof fronted by elaborate shaped pediment over parapet with central keyblocked attic oculus set within blocked rusticated pilasters, and with broken semi-circular apex pediment with obelisk finial breaking through centre.

SKENE TERRACE ELEVATION: 3 return bays of W section, right hand entrance bay slightly advanced; ground floor: deep cavetto moulded arched doorpiece (pilastered, corniced, with obelisk finials as on Union Terrace entrance, presently masked by bingo hall signs); pedimented 1st and 2nd floor windows, plain parapet over. 4-bay symmetrical elevation of N block (hall) slightly recessed to right, pedimented centre bays slightly advanced of single window flanks; rough hewn darker grey granite ground floor and full-height giant pilasters clasping centre and outer bays; ground floor includes small square half-basement and segmental headed ground floor mezzanine window, entrance at right hand end bay; band course between ground, 1st and 2nd floor(shorter than 1st and 2nd floors in main, W block) which together light 2-storey hall within; parapet over cornice, keyblocked thermal attic window set at parapet level below pediment at centre; shallow recessed outer bays with single windows; keyblocked oculi at 1st floor; simple architraved 2nd floor windows. Centrepiece with 3 windows at half basement, ground-mezzanine, 1st and attic floors, bipartite at 2nd.

NORTH SILVER STREET ELEVATION: (hall), darker grey picked ashlar with contrasting lighter grey polished ashlar dressings. 4-bay. Ground floor absorbed into sloping site to right. Tall arched and keyblocked 1st (ground) floor windows with multi-pane glazing and 2nd (1st) floor bipartites with 9-pane sash and case glazing, both lighting hall within.

INTERIORS: some original 1890's fittings in W section, including mahogany staircase with turned balusters, toplit by circular cupola, leading from No 42 Union Terrace entrance; one room with original mahogany chimneypiece with paired half fluted dwarf Ionic column stiles, deep panelled frieze, cornice and large mirror overmantel with Jacobethan casrved console and cherub motif frame.

CINEMA HOUSE AUDITORIUM: 1924 Art Deco scheme. Flat ceiling jettied out on decorative paired consoles to shallow arched higher sections; rear gallery jettied out on similar consoles. Original Art Deco fittings, including operating box, speakers, seating and light fittings.

Statement of Special Interest

Built as Union Hall for Aberdeen Union. Hall/theatre converted as Picturedrome cinema by businessman Henry N Phillips of London in 1910, becoming the second permanent cinema in Aberdeen. Picturedrome restored 1924 as Cinema House. Cinema House functioned as bingo hall from 1971-1991. Currently in use as a night club (2008).

References and Notes updated as part of Cinemas Thematic Study 2007-08

References

Bibliography

City of Aberdeen Planning Department, Plans Archive.

SILVER SCREEN IN THE SILVER CITY: A HISTORY OF CINEMAS IN ABERDEEN, Michael Thomson, 1988, pp29, 46, 47, 136, 321. www.scottishcinemas.org.uk (accessed 21/1/08).

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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