Albyn School, 21 Queen's Road, Aberdeen

Albyn School, 21 Queen's Road, Aberdeen

Albyn School is a substantial villa designed by Matthews & Mackenzie in 1879. It comprises a 2-storey building with basement and attic accommodation arranged over a 5-bay rectangular plan. The principal materials are tooled coursed grey granite to the northwest and southwest elevations with finely finished dressings, and Aberdeen bond granite to the remaining sides. The base course is rough-faced; openings are architraved; a dividing band course runs horizontally, corniced to the northwest elevation; and round-arched pilastered windows light the first floor of the northwest side. The building features an eaves course and cornice with overhanging eaves.

The northwest elevation, which fronts Queen's Road, is symmetrical and forms the principal façade. A pedimented central bay projects forward at ground floor as a porch supported on paired Tuscan columns with a balustraded entablature. The doorway is depressed-arched with impost detail, leading to a pilastered panelled timber door with an etched glass upper pane, flanked by further etched glass panels. Above the door is a depressed-arched fanlight with turned spindles. A bipartite window sits above the porch on the first floor. To either side of the central bay are recessed bays with regular fenestration to ground and first floors. Two bays step forward on each side, each with regular fenestration to the ground floor and a bipartite window to the first floor, with bracketed projecting cills. Piend-roofed dormers light the attic floor.

The southwest elevation, fronting Forest Avenue, comprises three broad bays. The central bay steps back and features a tripartite basement window, three ground-floor windows, and a tripartite first-floor window with a bracketed projecting cill. A tripartite rectangular dormer with a bracketed cill lights the attic. Flues from wallhead stacks advance from the basement of the flanking bays. Single windows light the first floor at each outer corner.

The southeast elevation is near-symmetrical across five bays. A canted block projects forward from the centre bay at basement and ground-floor level, with a conservatory (featuring a flat roof) adjoining at ground floor. A 3-light shallow bowed window runs through basement and ground floors across two bays to the left; the remaining bays have regular fenestration. A broad rectangular dormer containing five tripartite windows lights the attic floor. A 1962 addition adjoins to the right.

The northeast elevation is asymmetrical, with a single-storey flat-roofed addition to the right of the ground floor. Two-light windows light the ground and first floors of the centre bay, and a bipartite dormer lights the attic. A 1962 addition obscures bays to the left.

Windows throughout are predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case. The roof is piended grey slate with lead ridges. Corniced wallhead and ridge stacks in cast stone or similar material support the roof; rainwater goods are cast iron.

Interior features are of considerable quality. Surviving original mouldings include panelled timber doors, architraves, and cornices throughout. The entrance porch has a tiled floor and fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals flanking the doorway, which opens to the main hall. Ground-floor doorways feature Ionic pilasters and entablatures. Decorative friezes and cornices enliven the principal rooms, and coffered plaster ceilings with decorative friezes are a notable feature. The library retains fine panelled mouldings to the walls, with garland swags in doorway entablatures and husks and medallions in the frieze. Some staircases retain turned balusters.

The gatepiers and boundary walls are shared with nos. 17, 19 and 21 Queen's Road. The northwest corners feature low square-plan granite ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps, flanked by rough-faced granite walls with ashlar coping. A tall pier surmounted by an urn stands on Forest Avenue. The remainder is enclosed by granite and brick coped rubble walls.

A 1962 entrance fronting a hall, gym, and changing rooms was added adjoining the building but falls outside the scope of the listing. Later additions and alterations have also been made to the original structure.