Aberdeen – Civic Architecture from the Great War to the Paris Riots
Aberdeen - Civic Architecture from the Great War to the Paris Riots
Friday 24 April to Sunday 26 April 2026
Start time/place: Friday, 24 April 2026, 4pm / Castlegate, Aberdeen, AB10 1BD
Finish time/place: 4.30pm Aberdeen Airport, 5pm Aberdeen central train station
From a secure position as a prosperous small city of Empire with its own history of leading practice in architecture, Aberdeen was stunned by the new environment in 1918: all verities were in question. Its architectural response in the following half century is the subject of this tour.
On Friday are early hints in civic public works adjacent to Marischal College leading to the extraordinary Cooperative block. We visit Rosemount Square and the Uptown Baths both of 1938.
A walking tour on Saturday from the innovative 1960s High Flats programme begins at the Castlegate, and to Union Street for smart commercial blocks of the ‘20s to ‘50s and the recently refurbished Art Gallery with its War Memorial wing (1928), where we stop for a lecture before the new Gardens project and the West End are explored, and we visit Trinity Hall of 1964.
Sunday by coach visiting the universities and a variety of public housing schemes from arts and crafts prototypes (1918) through to a series of local exploratory schemes to the tall blocks Ashgrove Court (1959). Two alternative responses to mid-century modernity are presented at Gray’s School of Art and the Summerhill Shopping Centre.
Dr W A Brogden was born and educated in North Carolina, followed by a fellowship at Edinburgh University for PhD “Stephen Switzer and Garden Design in Early 18th Century Britain”. In 1970 he taught architecture and architectural history at Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Aberdeen. He was a founder member of the Garden History Society and editor in mid ‘80s of Garden History. Author of Aberdeen, an Illustrated Architectural Guide, 2002, and A City’s Architecture, Aberdeen as ‘Designed City’, 2012.
C20 Members’ price: £230
Non-members’ price: £260
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
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Image: Rosemount Square (1938) designed by Aberdeen City Architect's Department. Photo by Watty62 CC 4.0