The Academy, Schoolhill, Aberdeen

The Academy, located on Schoolhill in Aberdeen, is a former academy building designed by John Alexander Ogg Allan in 1901. This bold, three-storey structure showcases a multi-bay Renaissance style and is now part of the Academy Shopping Centre. It features a prominent four-storey, three-bay corner tower topped with a leaded dome, situated on a near-triangular site.

The principal north and west elevations are nearly symmetrical, ending in advanced gable bays. The building is constructed from grey granite ashlar, with a rock-faced base course and ground floor, and a moulded string course between the ground and first floors. The design emphasizes strong horizontal lines, with broken cill courses and raised bays. The top storey features round-arched Venetian windows with Roman-Doric columned mullions.

The northwest corner tower includes a double-leaf timber doorway with an open pediment above. The corner elevation has horizontal banding and projecting single bays on either side of the tower. The second storey openings are pedimented, with circular key-stoned windows above. A dentiled cornice adorns the leaded dome, which has a louvred lantern and finial.

The advanced bays on the north and west elevations have a similar design treatment on the first and second floors, culminating in a gable with a round-arched panel at the apex. The building is topped with grey slate, featuring broad gable end stacks, ashlar skews and skewputts, and clay cans.

The interior has been comprehensively altered to create the Academy Shopping Centre complex.