| Details |
Art Gallery and former Gray's School of Art built in 1885, designed by A Marshall Mackenzie, with Sculpture Court added 1905 (also by Mackenzie), and Cowdray Hall and war memorial added 1923-5 (see also NJ90NW0569). They comprise a 2-storey block of Renaissance style buildings built in distinctive polished grey granite ashlar with pink Corennie granite dressings and detailing. The 14-bay Art Gallery and 7-bay former School of Art fronting Schoolhill are linked by a semi-elliptical vehicular arch leading to Robert Gordon's College. The Art Gallery has full height engaged Corinthian columns flanking a round-arched entrance, the columns flanked by channelled pilasters, with a dentiled pediment above. The former School of Art has a similar entrance bay arrangement although with further Corinthian columns replacing the channelled pilasters. The vehicular arch has channelled pilasters, and a tripartite linking corridor above with scrolled and arched pediment, and ornamental cast-iron gates and gate piers with crown-finialled lanterns. The Cowdray Hall at the southwest corner is of grey granite ashlar with a curved quadrant colonnade and wide entrance doors to the Cowdray Hall at the outer quadrant bays flanked by Corinthian pilasters. The quadrant corner was originally intended as a setting for an Edward VII memorial statue but received the stylised lion statue instead due to the late building. There is a large oval cupola to the central sculpture court of the Art Gallery and fluted copper dome to the war memorial. The sculpture court uses various types of granite mostly from local quarries including Rubislaw, Kemnay and Corennie. A watching brief was carried out by D Hall in October 2012 on two engineers' test pits. There was some indication that the northern wall of the Art Gallery is built on top of an earlier sandstone foundation, possibly relating to buildings shown on the OS 1st edition map. The back fill of a foundation trench in Test Pit 2 contained a medieval floor tile fragment. A watching brief was carried out by D Hall in February-May 2013 on engineers' test pits in and around the Art Gallery ahead of proposed refurbishment. Most of the test pits were dug into the existing foundation trenches and did not encounter undisturbed archaeological deposits. Three test pits in the Art Gallery service yard located a laid cobbled surface, probably of post-medieval/early modern date, 0.40m below modern ground level. In three test pits the natural ground surface was at a much deeper level than elsewhere suggesting the presence of a deeply excavated area. Finds were mostly post-medieval/early modern in date, but also included a fragment of human leg bone recovered from Test Pit 3, in an area from which a medieval floor tile fragment was found in a test pit in 2012. A watching brief was carried out by Cameron Archaeology in January 2015 on trial pits within and around the exterior of the Art Gallery ahead of internal alterations and an extension. No archaeological features or artefacts were recorded. Subsequent excavation of a deposit of disarticulated bone uncovered during ground breaking works was carried out by AOC November 2015 to January 2016. A red-brick structure (used as a charnel house though perhaps not originally built for that function) was found to contain the remains of three large wooden coffins containing disarticulated human remains. It is possible that during a previous (possibly 19th century) development of the Gallery, these burials were moved from the area of construction and placed in this brick chamber. Further excavation recorded a large number of in situ burials (over 50 inhumations) with additional disarticulated remains. A large assemblage of artefacts were recovered associated with the burials. See also NJ90NW1255, NJ90NW3080 (vault / coffins found 1923). A stone, known as the 'Druidical Chair' recovered from Bankhead, Clatt, was placed inside the gateway on the east side of the gallery in 1887. Probably a natural stone it was found close to the site of a stone circle (Aberdeenshire HER NJ52NW0024).
|
Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NW0568 - ABERDEEN ART GALLERY