Holburn West Church Of Scotland And Church Hall, Great Western Road, Aberdeen

Holburn West Church of Scotland and Church Hall, Great Western Road, Aberdeen

Built in 1893 by the architects Brown & Watt, with later additions and alterations, this is a single-storey, three-bay rectangular-plan church with gothic detailing. The building is constructed in tooled granite ashlar with finely finished dressings, featuring an ashlar base course, pointed-arched openings with chamfered reveals, and string courses with dividing band courses throughout.

The south-east principal elevation is asymmetrical in composition. A gabled central bay dominates, with a deeply chamfered and moulded doorway at ground floor level featuring a hoodmould with carved label stops. The doorway comprises a two-leaf boarded timber door reached by granite steps surmounted by simple iron railings, with a vertically glazed fanlight above. Flanking the doorway to left and right are bipartite windows with an oculus above each. A triple pointed-arched window sits above the doorway with moulded reveals and an elongated colonette inset; a hoodmould and vesica set in the gablehead are surmounted by a stone finial to the apex. To the left of the central bay is a gableted buttress with a delicate finial, bearing a datestone inscribed "AD 1893". A stepped-down stair bay to the outer left contains a deeply chamfered doorway with hoodmould and carved label stops, a two-leaf boarded timber door on granite steps with vertically glazed fanlight, and a tall bipartite double window above. The wall at the outer angle sweeps out to enclose a convex-shouldered doorway. To the right stands a square-plan four-stage engaged tower. The tower's first stage has a deeply chamfered doorway with hoodmould, carved label stops, two-leaf boarded timber door, granite steps, vertically glazed fanlight, and an oculus to the right return. The second stage features a pair of small pointed-arched windows on each elevation surmounted by tall slits. Clock faces occupy the third stage on all but the south-west elevation. The fourth belfry stage has paired louvred lancets on each elevation surmounted by a parapet with inset quatrefoil, clasped at the angles by octagonal buttresses forming pinnacles; mobile phone masts occupy the angles. An octagonal stone spire with roundel and arrowslit openings crowns the tower, topped with an iron finial.

The north-east (Ashley Park Drive) elevation is near-symmetrical with four bays. Each bay contains flat-arched bipartite windows at ground floor with pointed-arched bipartites above; the parapet is gableted between the bays. A single-storey hall with a doorway to the left and pointed-arched openings to the right is attached. A 1962 hall addition to the outer right is constructed in Aberdeen-bond granite with regular openings.

The north-west elevation is gabled. Its lower half is predominantly obscured by hall additions, while the upper portion features a rose window above three lancets set in the gablehead, surmounted by a stone finial.

The south-west elevation is asymmetrical with five bays, each containing paired windows. A gabled stair bay stepped up to the right contains three tall slit openings with arched openings set in the gablehead and a stone finial to the apex.

The windows throughout are predominantly stained glass with outer secondary glazing. The roof is of grey slate with pierced terracotta ridges and iron ventilators to the nave ridge. Pointed and flat skews with scrolled skewputts are present. A wallhead stack to the north-west has circular cans. Rainwater goods are of cast iron.

The interior features an entrance porch to the south-east with gothic panelled two-leaf timber doors to left and right, with decorative stained glass upper panes and panels flanking. A Tudor-arched aisless nave with gallery to the south-east is lined with timber at ground floor. A panelled timber door and decorative timber pews are present. A timber pulpit to the north-west is set below a pipe organ and rose window, both contained within a heavily moulded Tudor arch with colonettes bearing decorative capitals to the reveals and painted walls surrounding the arch. The gallery to the south-east is supported on simple iron columns with a panelled front featuring cusped arch detail; the central portion is stepped back in a shallow Tudor-arch. Stairs to left and right have turned timber balusters with gothic-detailed newel posts. A boarded and panelled timber roof is supported on timber brackets. The halls feature simple detailing, with boarded finishes below dado level. An entrance corridor to the hall was remodelled in the late twentieth century.