North And East Church Of St Nicholas, Union Street, Aberdeen

North and East Church of St Nicholas, Union Street, Aberdeen

This complex church comprises three distinct structures built at different periods around a central former crossing with a four-stage tower and steeple. The building incorporates fragments from the 12th and 15th centuries and is constructed in granite and sandstone ashlar with some rubble, featuring channelled quoins to the west base course. The church is no longer in use as a place of worship as of December 2020.

The West Church was designed by James Gibbs in 1755 as a five-bay classical rectangular-plan church. Its entrance elevation faces west with a pediment and channelled rustication to the doorpiece. The round-arched window openings have moulded architraves and some Gibbs surrounds, with predominantly multi-pane timber windows throughout. Cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative heads and clasps serve the lead roof.

The interior of the West Church is a rare survival of a substantially unaltered 18th-century interior. It features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with groin-vaulted aisles and an oak-panelled gallery. The space contains a massive decorative pulpit and communion table, with pine boxed pews arranged in a square plan with the pulpit positioned to the south. The Lord Provost's loft to the west features a Corinthian columned baldacchino.

The East Church was built by Archibald Simpson between 1835 and 1837 as a five-bay buttressed structure in Gothic style, with crocketted and finialled details. It features hoodmoulds, deep-set pointed-arch and rectangular openings with decorative tracery. At its east end is the crypt chapel of 1438, originally built by Andrew Wrycht, master mason, now known as St Mary's Chapel. A separate entrance leads to a small groin-vaulted chapel to the east, which became commercial premises in 2006.

St Mary's Chapel is a three-bay mortuary chapel of the Gordon family, previously called the Chapel of Our Lady of Pity. It was donated by Lady Gordon around 1438 and restored in 1898 by Dr William Kelly. The chapel features rib and groin vaults. Its walls and furnishings are largely composed of 17th-century panelling, relocated during the 1898 restoration. The chapel contains fine examples of 15th and 16th-century woodwork panels forming a long desk, including work by master craftsman John Fendour.

The interior of the East Church was reconstructed between 1875 and 1877 by William Smith following a fire in 1874. Further extensive remodelling and refurnishing of the east end was undertaken by A. Marshall Mackenzie and Son in 1936. The interior features a panelled oak gallery to the north, south and west, including 17th-century fabric. Several good-quality stained glass windows are present. The interior was cleared for an archaeological dig in preparation for a major scheme to remodel the East Kirk as a community and tourist hub in 2022.

The Steeple was built by William Smith between 1875 and 1877. It is a crocketted and finialled square-plan clock tower with a recessed stone spire, clasping polygonal corner towers, and pointed-arch louvred openings to the belfry.

The north and south transepts form a central space, respectively named the Collison and Drum aisles. St John's Chapel in the north transept was adapted in 1989 to 1990 to become the Oilman's Chapel, dedicated to 25 years of the North Sea oil industry. It features bespoke woodwork by Tim Stead comprising a screen, high-backed chairs, a table and a lectern made from laminations of different coloured hardwoods. The first letter of each type of wood spells out "We remember you". The stained glass window is by Shona McInnes, dated 1990.

Other notable interior features include three organs, a carillion of 48 bells, seven mid-15th-century effigies, four large embroidered panels dating from the 17th century, stained glass windows from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, and a war memorial of 1922. Various benches and panels of medieval and 17th-century date are located in different parts of the church.