Building record MAB23930 - TORRY TRAMWAY DEPOT, 244 MARKET STREET, ABERDEEN

Former tramshed/tramway depot built circa 1905.

Former tramshed/tramway depot built circa 1905. The building at 244 Market Street once served as a depot for the Torry Tramway route. In 1870 the Tramways Act was passed to regulate street Tramway construction on those who had gained parliamentary approval. The Aberdeen District Tramways Act of 1872 authorised several lines through Aberdeen; all the tracks were to be single track with passing loops. Two routes were built from King Street to Queen's Cross and St Nicholas Street to Kittybrewster, and opened in 1874 as horse tramways. In 1880 the District Tramways extended their horse tram to Mannofield and Woodside. The Tramways Act of 1870 permitted the compulsory purchase powers by local authorities of any tramway within its boundary only to be exercised 21 years after the tramways' construction. An electric tramway scheme in the suburbs was announced in the Press and Journal in 1901 when the Aberdeen Suburban Tramways was formed. Electrification of the lines proceeded rapidly and the Deeside section of the tramway opened on 23 June 1904 with the Woodside to Bankhead line following on the 18th July. The depot, built in 1904, was a 1 storey tall ashlar building, with 1 by 6 bays. Built of coursed grey rough-faced granite finely finished to the margins, with pink granite base course, moulded lintels to windows, pink granite pilastered bays and pink granite eaves course and cornice. The principal, northeast, elevation has a round-headed tram entrance to the centre, hood moulded with decorative paired label stops, flanked by pilasters supporting a simple pediment. The southeast elevation has 6 pilastered bays with regular fenestration. The doorway to the bay to the left has a plaque on the right side reading Riverside House. It had a capacity for 6 cars, but in 1910 this allocation was moved to the Queen's Cross depot and it became the paint shop for Dee Village central works; the paint shop was later removed to King Street Depot in 1931. The Corporation tramway failed to develop. Inflation and problems associated with World War One crippled it: materials and men had been diverted to the war effort. The pirate buses of the 1920s provided direct competition that the tramways could not match.

Period Notes
Listed 27/06/1991.

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL, , TORRY INDUSTRIAL AND MARITIME TRAIL (Bibliographic reference). SAB8374.

May 30 1997 , 96/2585, 96/2585 (Ground Photograph). SAB34314.

Record last edited

Jan 5 2023 2:28PM