Harlaw Academy, Albyn Place, Aberdeen

Harlaw Academy, Albyn Place, Aberdeen

A substantial educational building of mixed dates, comprising a central block designed by Archibald Simpson between 1837 and 1840, flanked by two pavilions dating from around 1830. The complex was extended with a southern block by W J Smith & Kelly in 1892, and further expanded with a southern wing and connecting links by J A O Allan in 1902. Later twentieth-century additions and alterations have been made throughout. The building forms a shallow U-shaped courtyard plan centred on Simpson's principal block.

The central block is two storeys high and nine bays wide, constructed in grey granite ashlar with an ashlar base course and eaves courses. The principal (north) elevation is symmetrical, with three central bays slightly advanced and featuring pilasters rising through both floors to support an entablature and a deep eaves blocking course stepped up to the centre. A round-arched architraved doorway with keystone motif forms the focal point at ground-floor level, reached by stone steps and containing a two-leaf panelled door with glazed upper panes and fanlight. A window above this in the first floor completes the tripartite arrangement. The flanking bays contain regular fenestration, while two pedimented bays project further at the outer left and right with similar regular windows. The southern elevation faces a small courtyard and is partly harled at the centre, with recessed single windows set within segmental arches at ground level and matching windows above, flanked by pedimented bays now obscured by twentieth-century corridor links.

The eastern and western pavilions, both dating from around 1830, are two storeys with basement and attic levels. The eastern pavilion is six bays wide with a tetrastyle Greek Doric porch to its principal elevation, featuring a two-leaf glazed timber door surrounded by glazed panels and two windows above. The western pavilion is three bays wide and similar in arrangement, but its porch is tetrastyle Tuscan order. Both pavilions are constructed of tooled coursed granite finely finished to margins. Both feature modern rectangular dormers and skylights inserted to their attic floors. These pavilions are connected to the central block by two-storey links with basement and attic levels, designed by J A O Allan in 1902. These links incorporate an assembly hall on the western side with tall windows stepping forward, and matching arrangements to the east.

The southern block, predominantly built by Smith & Kelly in 1892 and later extended and remodelled in the twentieth century, adjoins the central block to the south. This is a substantial addition of three and four storeys. Its principal (south) elevation comprises a thirteen-bay main block near the centre, with a bay stepped forward at ground level containing a three-light canted window rising to the first floor. The remaining bays generally maintain regular fenestration across ground, first, and second floors, though the fourth floor has been largely remodelled with an original bipartite window at the centre flanked by three broad windows to the left and two stepped-back windows to the right. Two twentieth-century stair bays flank this main block. To the right is a three-storey four-bay block stepped down, and to the left is a four-storey eight-bay block with regular fenestration and an enclosing stair tower to the outer left.

The southern wing, designed by J A O Allan in 1902 and subsequently altered, extends seventeen bays in two storeys and is linked to the southern block by a single-storey corridor. Its principal (north) elevation is symmetrical, with three central bays advanced featuring four-light windows at ground and first-floor levels, flanked by regular fenestration across the remaining fourteen bays. The western elevation is asymmetrical, with a two-bay block featuring two horizontal windows at ground level and a round-arched doorway, with further harled bays and gymnasium facilities recessed beyond.

Throughout the building, the southern block and wing are constructed of predominantly tooled coursed granite with rough-faced base courses. The base course and eaves courses to the central block and connecting links are ashlar, while eaves blocking courses are present throughout. Quoins vary in style, including strip quoins and long-and-short work.

The windows to the central block are twelve-pane timber sash-and-case type, while later additions predominantly feature replacement lying-pane PVCu windows. Panelled and glazed timber doors appear throughout. The roofs are piended grey slate with lead ridges, and cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative top hoppers are present. A variety of coped stacks and vents crown the structure.

The interior of the central block retains some original features. The entrance hall features a geometrically-leaded stained-glass doorway with a glazed two-leaf door, and some original cornicing survives. A replacement doorway leads to an inner hall with cornicing decorated with scrolled brackets and round-arched doorways flanking to left and right. The remainder of the interior has been substantially remodelled, though many original doors with circular glazed panel insets remain, along with a three-storey open lightwell to the eastern pavilion. The assembly hall in the western link features a moulded ceiling with stage to the west and a balcony to the east.

The boundary to the south comprises coped granite rubble walls with square-plan coped gatepiers, some surmounted by shallow pyramidal caps. Various doorway infills are evident along the boundary.