A sizeable non-denominational secondary school in N Aberdeen, St. Machar Academy is located on the south side of St. Machar Drive, between Powis and Tillydrone, 1¼ miles (2 km) north northwest of the city centre. The school was founded in 1988 as the result of the merger of Hilton and Powis Academies, and occupies the buildings of the latter. A further merger took place in 2002, when the pupils of Linksfield Academy were brought into this school, which now has a roll of 835 pupils and 80 staff (2015).
The building opened as a school in 1939 and is weakly Art Deco in style, comprising three storeys faced in grey granite, with horizontal alignments of black-painted metal windows. Several major extensions and refurbishments have taken place over the years, most recently providing the school with a modern library and resources centre, information technology area and drama studio. A games hall and a drama/television studio opened in 1994.
An unusual Compton Illuminated Organ, dating from the 1930s and said to be the first of its kind in Britain, was installed in the school hall in 1968 having been removed from the Astoria Cinema in Kittybrewster shortly before it was demolished. Sadly the school hall and its organ were destroyed by a fire in 1982.