Episcopal Convent And Chapel Of St Margaret Of Scotland, 17 Spital, Aberdeen

The Episcopal Convent and Chapel of St Margaret of Scotland, located at 17 Spital in Aberdeen, was designed by Sir J Ninian Comper in 1891 and completed in 1892. It was restored in 1988 by Lyon & McPherson. This impressive Gothic chapel features a canted, buttressed, and castellated apsidal chancel that rises from a steep hillside, alongside a two-storey and attic, two-bay convent wing with transomed and mullioned windows. The convent has a distinctive V-plan bay that extends through two floors. The building is constructed from squared and pinned granite rubble with polished ashlar dressings and is part of a larger former convent complex.

The chapel's monumental appearance is enhanced by the steeply sloping ground at the eastern elevation. It includes full-height buttresses flanking a high 2-light traceried window above a decorative niche that houses a statue of St Margaret, with taller windows on the angled sides. The main entrance is located at the rear, accessed through a small porch topped with a pyramidal pantiled roof, leading to a doorway marked with the date '1892'.

Inside, the chapel features a finely furnished, aisleless, galleried, and whitewashed interior, with stencilled groin vaulting over the apsidal chancel and a stencilled timber wagon roof in the nave. Decorative elements include blind ogee arched arcading, carved timber stalls, and a small watching chamber connected to the convent.

The convent itself has two horizontally-emphasised bays with transomed, mullioned, and traceried windows in the eastern elevation. The rear elevation includes a porch that mirrors the main entrance of the chapel and displays asymmetrical fenestration. A canted stair tower is situated in the re-entrant angle formed with the chapel.

The interior of the convent features six-panelled timber doors, stone fireplaces with various overmantels, cast iron grates, tiled slips, and hearths, as well as cast iron radiators. The principal rooms are finely detailed, with timber window seats. The chapel has stained glass glazing, while the convent wing features leaded and margined diamond patterns, along with plate glass in fixed and casement windows. Most other windows are timber sash and case with a largely four-pane glazing pattern. The roofs are covered with red pantiles, with some areas using grey slate.