Union Street
Union Street runs for nearly a mile (1.5 km), is 70 ft (21 m) wide, and originally contained the principal shops and most of the public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilised for the line of the Great North of Scotland Railway) by Union Bridge, a fine granite arch of 132 ft (40 m) span, with portions of the older town still fringing the gorge, 50 feet (15 m) below the level of Union Street. Union Street was built between 1801 and 1805, and named after the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland.
Amongst the notable buildings in the street are the Town and County Bank, the Music Hall, the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating between 1398 and 1527), now a shopping mall; the Palace Hotel; the former office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the National Bank of Scotland.
In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union Street, is the new Town House, the headquarters of the city council. Designed by Peddie and Kinnear and built between 1868 and 1874, it is one of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in Flemish-Gothic style in recognition of close trade links between Aberdeen and Flanders, it contains the great hall, with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the Town and County Hall, with portraits of Prince Albert, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, various Lord Provosts and other distinguished citizens. In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of black armour, believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert Davidson, who fought in the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. On the south-western corner is the 210 ft (64 m) West Tower, with its prominent bartizans, which commands a fine view of the city and surrounding country.
On the corner of Castle Street and King Street stands the old North of Scotland Bank by Aberdeen born architect, Archibald Simpson. This building, with its imposing corner entrance of four giant order composite columns, and statue of Ceres above, is now a pub named after its original architect. On the opposite side of the street is the fine building of the Union Bank, redeveloped in 2005 as the High Court, the third permanent high court to sit in Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Architecture Of Aberdeen
Famous quotes containing the words union and/or street:
“Thus piteously Love closed what he begat:
The union of this ever-diverse pair!
These two were rapid falcons in a snare,
Condemned to do the flitting of the bat.”
—George Meredith (1828–1909)
“You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed’s edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)