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Town house, designed by George Jaffrey in 1787, completed in 1788. This splendid Georgian building is three-storey, of ashlar, 3-window with a projecting central bay with pediment, square clock stage above which is a cupola. At first it incorporated a Grammar School and English School and a hall for the use of different societies and the Incorporated Trades of Old Aberdeen. It was partly funded by the Masons, who until recently retained the use of the attic. This building replaced an earlier Townhouse completed in 1703 at a cost of £712/3/6. In turn that had replaced an earlier complex of buildings dating to the later 1660s. Previously the Council and trades had met in the nearby School House. The panel above the door (dated 1721) comes from another building, possibly an earlier version of the townhouse: it incorporates Old Aberdeen's arms under the burgh's motto 'By harmony small things increase'. The arms on the east side of the building are those of the kings of Scotland with an imperial crown and are of unknown origin and date. The town house is the property of the University of Aberdeen which refurbished the interior in 2005, and reopened it as a visitor centre for the University.
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