Station Hotel, 74-78 Guild Street, Aberdeen

The Station Hotel, located at 74-78 Guild Street, Aberdeen, comprises two internally linked buildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The right-hand section, at No. 78, was designed by Ellis & Wilson in 1894, and the left-hand section, No. 80, by R. G. Wilson in 1900. No. 80 originally served as Railway Headquarters. The buildings are constructed of tooled and ashlar granite with a first-floor cornice, cill and string courses.

No. 78, the four-storey, double gabled Baroque hotel, has a basement and two attics. The ground floor is pilastered with a continuous fascia, and features a centrally positioned, canopied, two-leaf timber and glass swing entrance door, flanked by glass and timber sidelights. Shallow canted, seven-light oriel windows with central round arched lights are present on the first and second floors of the outer bays, with round-arched openings above. A decorative panel with a small arcaded parapet sits above the third storey, and the gables are finished with swan-necked apex capping and stacks. Extensions were added to the rear in the late 20th century, with further alterations in 2006.

No. 80, the slightly recessed three-storey former Railway Headquarters, features a central decorative consoled wallhead panel. It has a wide-arched Baroque entrance porch, with banded pilasters and chamfered panelling framing a two-leaf timber and glass swing door and wide plate glass sidelights. A large Diocletian fanlight is positioned above the door, and decorative detailing includes a lion's head at the apex and palmettes.

Fenestration varies between the two buildings. No. 78 predominantly features six-pane over plate glass timber sash and case windows on the first and second floors, with casement and non-traditional windows on the upper floors. The rear and east-facing elevations incorporate four-pane and plate glass timber sash and case windows, alongside some non-traditional windows. The grey slate mansard roof has two levels of attic dormers, and features scroll skew-putts. No. 80 mainly has plate glass sash and case timber windows, and a slate roof with coped ridge stacks topped with hexagonal decorative cans.

The original room plan of the interior remains largely intact, particularly within No. 80, and incorporates original features. A central open-well staircase has a decorative timber balustrade. The original boardroom retains fine timber panelling, decorative chimneypieces and overmantels. Four and five-panel timber doors are present throughout, alongside decorative plaster cornicing, some doors with carved timber architraves, and an original timber panelled entrance hall. Some stained glass is found in the rear stair windows.