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

BOILER HOUSE, OUTBUILDING AND STACK, FORMER ABERDEEN ROYAL INFIRMARY, WOOLMANHILL, SPA STREET, ABERDEENLB52239

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
19/06/2014
Local Authority
Aberdeen
Planning Authority
Aberdeen
Burgh
Aberdeen
NGR
NJ 93670 06454
Coordinates
393670, 806454

Description

Probably W & J Smith and Kelly (H Saxon Snell acting as consultant), 1887-97. Tall single storey, 4-bay rectangular plan boiler house and lower, rectangular-plan outbuilding, part of a significant nineteenth century hospital complex in Aberdeen city centre. Aberdeen bond, cherry-cocked granite. Tall round-arched windows. Lower section to left of boiler house with pair of segmental-arched openings. Outbuilding to right of boiler house with segmental arched entrance to street elevation. Pitched slate roof to outbuilding with raised glazed section. Tall red-brick stack on granite base to north-east corner of boiler house.

Statement of Special Interest

The boiler house and outbuilding is an important ancillary component of the former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, which is a rare example of a hospital that has not been significantly altered externally since the late nineteenth century. The design of these functional buildings are in keeping with the style of the wider hospital site, by the use of granite and classical details.

The former Royal Infirmary complex consists of a 1833-40 neo-classical building by Archibald Simpson with later nineteenth century buildings to the rear, on a confined gusset site in Aberdeen city centre. This hospital replaced the earlier Aberdeen Infirmary by William Christall, which opened in 1742, and was demolished on completion of the Simpson Pavilion.

In 1887 a major extension and reconstruction scheme commenced at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary site. Known as the Jubilee Extension Scheme (as the Queen's Jubilee provided an opportunity to raise funds) new building were erected to the north part of the site to increase medical facilities at the hospital. The boiler house is first evident on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map and therefore it is likely to have been constructed as part of the Jubilee scheme designed by W & J Smith and Kelly, with Henry Saxon Snell as consultant.

After the First World War there was urgent need to increase the facilities of the Infirmary. The confined nature of the Woolmanhill site did not lend itself to expansion and in 1923 a site at Forresterhill was acquired with the foundation stone of the new hospital laid in 1928. Although the future of the Woolmanhill site was uncertain from this date, it has remained in operation until 2013.

Previously listed as part of "Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Woolmanhill".

References

Bibliography

Aberdeen Journal, 19 April 1871.

Builder, 11 June 1887, p867.

Ordnance Survey (1899) Aberdeenshire, Sheet 075.11. 25 miles to the inch. 1st Ed. London: Ordnance Survey.

Unknown (1936) A Short History of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary From Woolmanhill in 1739 to Forresterhill in 1936.

Henry C Burdett (1891) Hospitals and Asylums of the World. London. p.205.

Dobson Chapman, W and Riley, C F (1952) Granite City: A Plan for Aberdeen. by London: Batsford. p148.

Lee, C H (2000) Social welfare: poverty and health in Hamish Fraser, W and Lee C H (eds) Aberdeen 1800-2000 A New History. Lancaster: Carnegle. p.279-280.

Historic Scotland (2010) Building Up Our Health: the Architecture of Scotland's Historic Hospitals. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland. p.18.

Dictionary of Scottish Architects, W & J Smith and Kelly http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=202304 [accessed 16 January 2014].

SCRAN, Courtyard of Woolmanhill Hospital, Aberdeen, c. 1910 http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-126-771-C [accessed 16 January 2014].

Historic Scotland Archive. Richardson, H. (Undated) Scottish Hospitals Survey, Unpublished typescript.

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.

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