Rubislaw Parish Church And Church Hall, Queen's Cross, Aberdeen

Rubislaw Parish Church and Church Hall, Queen's Cross, Aberdeen

This is a single-storey galleried church with adjoining hall, designed by J Russell Mackenzie and built in 1874–1875, with the tower, galleries and hall added in 1881. The building is constructed of yellow sandstone ashlar with a shallow cruciform plan in the Gothic style.

The south elevation, which serves as the main entrance, is asymmetrical and features a gabled central bay containing a gableted doorway with deeply chamfered moulded reveals supported by three colonettes to left and right, each with stiff-leaf capitals. The doorway is flanked by paired shouldered doors with a trumeau supporting the tympanum and decorated with five blind pointed arches above. The doors themselves are decoratively boarded timber with strapwork hinges. Flanking the doorway are shouldered windows, and above runs a band of eight pointed-arched windows set in round-headed trefoil arcades on stiff-leaf colonettes. The gablehead displays a crenellated parapet on round-billet corbelling with rope moulding above, and at its centre is a traceried rose window flanked by blind pointed arches, with a stone crucifix at the apex. A buttress to the left terminates in a square-plan open finial with round-headed trefoil arches and a pyramidal spire. A stair tower occupies the flanking bay to the left, featuring a shouldered window at ground floor and two pointed-arched windows in round-headed trefoil arcade above, crenellated parapet on round-billet corbelling, and a saddle-back roof with fishscale slates. Adjoining to the right is a three-stage tower with set-back buttresses terminating in octagonal pinnacles with lead roofs. The first stage has four pointed-arched windows in round-headed trefoil arcade on stiff-leaf colonettes to the south and west elevations, crenellated parapet on round-billet corbelling with rope moulding, and a shouldered doorway below on the east elevation with a two-leaf boarded timber door and strapwork hinges in a relieving arch with blind trefoil in the tympanum. The second stage features a boarded timber shouldered opening set back behind the first stage parapet, with the east elevation blank and a narrow opening on the north elevation. The third stage has gableted elevations with pairs of triple-height pointed-arched bipartite windows with trefoil heads and louvred glass to the lower stage, clocks set in each gablet flanked by trefoil and quatrefoil, and a pyramidal herringbone leaded spire.

The east elevation facing Fountainhall Road is asymmetrical with nine bays. Four bays form the nave to the left, adjoining the tower: each is a gabled buttressed bay with a bipartite pointed-arched traceried window featuring trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil and multifoil above, respectively set in gableheads with stone finials. A two-bay gabled transept advances to the right, with two bipartite windows at ground floor and a rose window in the gablehead above a louvred opening. A lean-to porch is recessed to the right with a basement doorway and tall pointed-arched window above. At the outer right is a single-storey two-bay entrance to the ambulatory, which links the apse to the hall, with a shouldered window to the right and shouldered doorway to the left with a boarded timber two-leaf door accessed by stone steps.

The north elevation is gabled, with a semi-circular-plan apse featuring three sets of three pointed trefoil-headed windows and a shouldered louvred opening in the gablehead, topped by a stone finial. Below this, an ambulatory obscures the lower section, linking the apse to the adjoining single-storey rectangular-plan hall. The hall extends across five bays with regular fenestration to the north elevation, a doorway between bays, and a traceried three-light window with louvred opening above at the left return; the right return is blank.

The west elevation is asymmetrical with eight bays and gables without crowsteps. Three bays of nave flank to the left, each a gabled bay with bipartite pointed-arched traceried windows. A two-bay gabled transept advances slightly with two bipartite windows at ground floor and a rose window in the gablehead above a louvred opening. A piend-roofed lean-to bay to the left has a basement window and tall pointed-arched window above. A single-storey bay of ambulatory adjoins to the left with a central window. A stair tower adjoins the adjacent building to the outer right.

Throughout the building, the base course, dividing string courses, and eaves course are defined by ashlar detailing. Pointed-arched openings have chamfered reveals, and the roofline features crowstepped gables. Windows are predominantly diamond-pane leaded with stained glass. The roofs are grey slate with lead ridges, purple-grey slate to the apse, and lead to the spire. Stone skews feature decorative skewputts, and a diamond-plan wallhead stack with circular can rises from the structure.

The interior has been redecorated since 2000. A rectangular-plan porch opens to the south with stairs featuring iron balusters to the south gallery; timber doors are panelled and boarded with timber boarding below dado. The nave and aisles are spanned by decoratively panelled galleries added in 1881, also located in the east and west transepts. A Father Willis organ, installed in 1890 with later alterations and reconditioning work, occupies the south gallery. Elongated cast-iron columns with stiff-leaf capitals support pointed-arch colonnades along the aisles. Pitched pine pews furnish the space. The roof is a truncated pointed arch supported on timber trusses with colonette brackets. A semi-circular-plan chancel apse opens to the north, featuring a decorative timber Gothic rood screen fronted by a pulpit reached by steps and fitted with a sounding board. The apse ceiling is boarded timber in herringbone pattern. An ambulatory to the north of the church includes stairs to the east and west galleries with iron balusters, and a late 19th- to early 20th-century bathroom with toilet and wash hand basin. The adjoining hall to the north has boarded timber below dado and a simple corniced roof with timber brackets and trusses.