17-21 Union Street, Aberdeen is a Grade B listed building in the Aberdeen City local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 12 January 1967. 1 related planning application.

17-21 Union Street, Aberdeen

WRENN ID
old-gable-mist
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
Aberdeen City
Constituency
Aberdeen South MP: Douglas Lumsden (Con)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
12 January 1967
Address
17-21 Union Street, Aberdeen, AB11 5BU
OS grid reference
NJ 943 062
Coordinates
57.14745, -2.09488
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

11-15 (Odd) Union Street in Aberdeen is a four-storey and attic building designed by Archibald Simpson between 1819 and 1822. It features an impressive classical former reading room and tenement building with shops, characterized by round-arched openings at the ground level. The building was altered after a fire in 1973 and is prominently located at a crossroads. The former reading room is distinguished by its Ionic columns that rise through the first and second floors of the five-bay section, all constructed from smooth granite ashlar. There is a base course, a band course, and a cill course to the third storey, along with a blocking course. The northwest corner is rounded and features bowed glazing.

To the east, the elevation is symmetrical with a slightly advanced central three-bay section that includes a central timber door flanked by four tall Ionic columns, with an attic above separating three large windows. There is a decorated wallhead panel above this section. To the north, there is a slightly advanced central five-bay section with a swagged wallhead panel.

The ground floor has multi-pane round-arched timber windows with a fanlight glazing pattern, while the upper floors predominantly feature 12-pane timber sash and case windows, with some plate glass in the shop fronts. Number 17, which was formerly a tobacconist, has round-arched timber mouldings. The building is topped with a grey slate mansard roof. The interior was comprehensively altered in 2006.

Local climate

17-21 Union Street, Aberdeen receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 64% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 82% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 8 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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