265 George Street, Aberdeen

261 George Street in Aberdeen is a former college building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie between 1873 and 1874. This two-storey, four-bay structure showcases a bold Lombardic Gothic style, featuring a prominent octagonal tower on the far left and a gabled frontage. The building is constructed from rough-faced granite with lightly stugged dressings. It has a stepped plinth base course and a double string course between the first and second floors.

The ground floor has tall, arcaded round-arched openings separated by pilasters, with round-headed panels above that have linked mouldings. The wider tower bay on the far left includes another round-arched opening. First-floor windows have pointed heads that rise to a finialled gable, connected by a parapet balustrade. The tower bay transitions from square to octagonal above the second floor, with alternating buttresses and louvred, hoodmoulded openings on its faces. Water spouts are positioned at the angles of the parapet, and the circular, galleried belfry stage features louvred openings topped by a conical, slated roof with a finial.

At the rear, there is a bold stack with a cavetto coped cornice, while the rear elevation is harled and relatively plain, with raised ashlar margins. The central bay is recessed, and the flanking bays have raised quoin details. The ground floor has two levels of multi-pane fixed glazing, separated by an infill section, while the first floor features top-opening windows with glazing bars. The rear predominantly has non-traditional glazing. The roof is covered in grey slate and has coped ashlar end stacks.