Aberdeen, Woolmanhill, Former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Lamp Standard is a Grade A listed building in the Aberdeen City local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 25 May 1977. Hospital.

Aberdeen, Woolmanhill, Former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Lamp Standard

WRENN ID
buried-stone-pigeon
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Aberdeen City
Constituency
Aberdeen North MP: Kirsty Blackman (SNP)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
25 May 1977
Type
Hospital
OS grid reference
NJ 936 064
Coordinates
57.14931, -2.10603
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, located on Woolmanhill, is a neo-classical building designed by Archibald Simpson between 1833 and 1840, with later additions and alterations. This three-storey structure features a symmetrical H-plan layout with 13 bays by 9 bays, forming part of a 19th-century hospital complex in the city center of Aberdeen. The building is constructed from granite ashlar and showcases shallow advanced triangular pediments at the center of both the principal and side elevations, supported by giant order Doric pilasters. The ground floor is channelled, with a string course separating it from the first floor, and deep corniced eaves with a blocking course above. The windows on the first and second floors are predominantly moulded architraved, while the first floor features corniced and bracketed windows in the advanced end two-bay blocks of the south elevation. At the center of the building, there is a copper-clad dome with glazing on the north side.

The windows throughout the building predominantly have 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case style, with 9-pane glazing on the second floor. The interior, which was inspected in 2013, has been incrementally remodelled, including subdivisions. The domed attic room, believed to have been the operating theatre, features timber boarding. Some panelled timber doors with geometric fanlights are present, along with a marble bust of Alexander Kilgour mounted on a plaque in the entrance corridor.

Surrounding the property are roughly squared, coursed, and coped granite boundary walls, with the wall to the west (Spa Street) being taller and possibly containing early 18th-century fabric. These walls are topped with iron railings and have coped square piers, with those on the northern part of the site featuring shallow pyramidal copes. Additionally, there is a decorative cast iron lamp standard located within the courtyard at the rear of the Simpson Pavilion, although the bowl was missing as of 2013.

Local climate

Aberdeen, Woolmanhill, Former Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Lamp Standard receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 64% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 82% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 8 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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