| Details |
Cathedral originally built as a church built in 1817, becoming a cathedral in 1914, depicted on the OS 1st edition map as St Andrews Episcopal Chapel. It was designed by Archibald Simpson 1816-17 with interior scheme by architect Ninian Comper 1936-43. The chancel was added by GE Street in 1880, the porch by RS Lorimer in 1991. St Andrew's is the Cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney. It is a perpendicular style building which is small, although inside it gives a feeling of being much larger, with little embellishment apart from outsized crockets at the front corners with Gothic detail in Craigleigh sandstone ashlar with no tower. It seats approximately 750 people and at the time of building, cost £6000 to complete. The original building had the present nave minus the roof decorations. There were galleries all the way around, and at the east end a small apse with an altar on it. An old photograph shows curved seating in the nave and a peppermill pulpit tall enough for people in the gallery to see the preacher. In 1880, the choir and chancel were added by G. E. Street; it was shorter than the present chancel but contained some of the present choir stalls. To mark the Centenary of Bishop Seabury's Consecration a new east window was put in containing the arms of Seabury. Samuel Seabury of Connecticut was the first Anglican bishop of the American and the first Anglican bishop outside of the British Isles and was consecrated in 1784. The present pews were installed in 1909 after the removal of the galleries. A carved screen was erected at the entrance to the choir as a memorial to Dean Danson in 1910. The screen is now also in the Suther Chapel. Sir Robert Lorimer added the porch in 1911, and the chancel was extended in 1928. In 1928, plans were made to build a new Cathedral church on Broad Street where St. Nicholas House stands today. Sir Ninian Comper was commissioned to be the new architect and the opening of the church was going to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Consecration of Samuel Seabury. The Bishop, Frederic Llewellyn Deane, went to America to secure more funds for the project but the Stock Market had crashed. On his return, it was decided to expand the current church and change the then drab interior. In 1935, the refurbishment of the interior began with the decoration of the ciborium and chapel as well as the decoration of the ceilings of the north and south aisles by Sir Ninian Comper from 1936-43. Work began on the extension of the east end but it was not completed until after the Second World War The Seabury Memorial was dedicated in 1948. At the east end of the North Aisle is the Lady Chapel that was designed by Robert Lorimer who also designed the screen in the Suther Chapel. The ceiling was decorated in 1935 with the arms of the 48 states of America. They appear in alphabetical order with their state symbol, usually from the flag, and their colours. At either end of the choir stalls are the seats of the Canons of the Cathedral located in the chancel. The arms of the Diocese of Connecticut are over the Seabury stall on the north side. On the ceiling are the arms of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II as well as Bishop Dean who as Bishop at the time the memorial was built. The Sanctuary is dominated by the gilded baldachino, which Sir Ninian Comper had planned for the new cathedral. To the north end of the High Altar is the foundation stone of the Seabury Memorial laid in 1938. The east window was given by Harry Jackson Kinghorn of Auchenhove in memory of his wife. The angel in the window, escorting the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, carries a shield with the Stars and Stripes. Suther's (elsewhere called the Suther Chapel) Chapel is along the side of the choir and sanctuary. It is in memory of Samuel Suther as he was the first Bishop of the United Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney. The window is the Seabury Centenary window, once the main east window. The altar slab is also from 1880 when the church was extended and it was made free standing in 1976 when the chapel was redesigned. The ceiling of the South Aisle is decorated with the arms of the 48 families in the north-east of Scotland who remained loyal to the Episcopalian Church during the 18th century when the Penal Laws were enforced. At the west end stands a marble statue of John Skinner, 1744-1816. The nave has tablets in memory of Gordon and Valentine Pirie, Lt. Percy Smith Shirras, Thomas Cruickshank, Michael Russell Suther, Lt. Col. R. W. T. Gordon and John Rough and his wife. There are memorial windows to Jane Berber of Learney, wife of William Innes of Raemoir, David Byres of Tonley, George Skene Tayler of Inchgarth and Rev. William Browning. The brass eagle lectern is a memorial to Sarah Rachael Amelia Suther, the bishop's sister. Ms. Warrick gave the oak pulpit in memory of her parents and her brothers. She also left a gift of £100 as an endowment for its upkeep. The lady altar was designed by Lorimer, and furnishings were given by Mrs. Cay in 1917 in memory of her husband, Alexander Cay, who was for many years a trustee and churchwarden. The organ is one of the oldest in regular use for Sunday worship in Scotland. In 1795, Samuel Green built the organ for the Long Acre Chapel, where it served until 1816 when it was placed in the west gallery of the Cathedral. On Christmas 1817, it perished as a result of a fire but was replaced in 1818 by a new double organ built by Muir Wood and Co. of Edinburgh. In 1880 at the completion of the new chancel area, the organ was moved to an all-purpose built chamber on the north side of the choir. This organ was originally rebuilt in 1917 at the centenary of the building of the new chapel. More changes were made in 1970 and 1978 to the organ and in 1984 it was rebuilt again in a new mobile console in order to provide services to be accompanied from the Suther Chapel. In 1983, the Cathedral Trustees launched as the St. Andrew's Development Appeal and they raised over £150,000 to make repairs to the church.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NW0122 - ST ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL, ABERDEEN