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Site of a manor and Old Rubislaw House built in 1675 and demolished in 1886, depicted on the OS 1st edition map annotated as 'Mansion House of Rubislaw (AD1688)'. The house was demolished in 1886 to make way for the current Rubislaw House. This was the estate house for Rubislaw estate which was part of Aberdeen's Freedom Lands and had been purchased by the town in 1379. The estate had been feued out in 1551 to Alexander Rutherford. The exact date of the building of the house is uncertain. It is quite likely that it was comprised a number of elements dating from different periods. Anderson reported in 1910 that a lintel above the entrance to the present house was inscribed 'A 1675 F' standing for Arthur Forbes one of the later feuars of the estate. It is thus possible that the building, in whole or in part, dated from 1675. The estate and presumably the house remained in the hands of the Forbes family until 1687 when they passed to Sir George Skene (the house remaining in the hands of the Skene family until the 19th century). In 1688 Sir George Skene erected a carved stone tablet bearing his coat of arms above the door. The arms were removed prior to the destruction of the house and were taken into the possession of W.F.Skene, editor of the Memorials of the Family of Skene of Skene. A description in 1910 (Anderson) recorded: 'The end wings were evidently later additions to the original structure. There was a narrow closet or passage (about two feet wide) along the back of a fireplace of a large room on the first floor; and over the fireplace of this room was discovered- on the removal of an upper coat of plaster when the house was being demolished-a painting in bright colours of some Scriptural scene; a scene from the book of Esther, it is believed.' Sketches of the house show an ornate sun dial in its garden. This sun dial was removed from the grounds of the Earl Marischal's lodging when it was demolished to make way for Marischal Street. The sun dial eventually passed into the hands of William Keith, granite merchant, who kept it in his grounds at Rubislaw Den House. The estate of Rubislaw was purchased by the Aberdeen Land Association in 1877. The Association had recently formed and was aiming to take advantage both of rising prices for land and the spread of the city out towards the west. The purchase of this estate was very much a speculative manoeuvre in the development of the middle class western suburbs of the city. John Morgan, master mason acquired the house and site and wanted to preserve the old building. However, the house stood in the way of the straightening of Queen's Road and was out of alignment with the houses being developed on the road, and it was demolished in 1886. The only parts of the old house preserved in the new one (NJ90NW1159) were the steps leading up to the front door, which were placed at the conservatory door, and the entrance door lintel moulded and inscribed 'A 1675 F' which was been placed over the arch of the kitchen door. The fate of the Skene coat of arms is known. The arms were removed prior to the sale of the house by the last resident member of the Skene family.
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Aberdeen City
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NJ90NW0214 - RUBISLAW HOUSE (OLD)