Overview of Town House

Located in Aberdeen's Castle Street, the grand Town House serves as the city's town hall and was for many years the most prominent building in the city. Built 1866-74 to a competition-winning design by the Edinburgh architectural firm of Peddie and Kinnear, it was constructed as an extension of the 17th C. Tolbooth and is now Category-A listed. It is of Flemish style with an immense clock-tower at the west end of the building, balancing the tower of the Tolbooth to the east. Its interior is as impressive as its exterior, with fine timber-panelled reception rooms decorated with the portraits of former Lord Provosts. The main reception hall features a timber hammerbeam roof and minstrels' gallery, while other rooms have coffered ceilings, decorative plaster cornices and large granite chimney-pieces. There is a statue of the young Queen Victoria in the entrance hall, which was moved from Union Street to protect it from the elements. The building was extended to the north in 1975.