Queen's Cross is an area in the West End of
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. It is located just west of the main thoroughfare of Union Street and about from the geographical town centre at
Mercat Cross
A mercat cross is the Scots language, Scots name for the market cross found frequently in Scotland, Scottish cities, towns and villages where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or ...
.
Queen's Cross itself is the intersection of Fountainhall Road, Queen's Road, St Swithin Street, Albyn Place and Carden Place, where there is a roundabout with
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
's bronze statue in the middle. The statue of Queen Victoria at Queen's Cross, marks the beginning of Aberdeen's West End. The statue itself was originally located on St Nicolas Street, and was moved to its present location in 1964 (when what is now
Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...
was built). The statue replaced an Alexander Brodie marble statue of 1866 (now within the Town House). It was erected by the Royal Tradesmen of the city to commemorate Her Majesty's Jubilee. The statue was originally to have been marble, sculpted by
Pittendreigh Macgillivray, ARSA, however this plan was not executed. Granite was the next possibility, but the statue was considered too small and delicate for this material. Finally a bronze was ordered from
C. B. Birch, ARA, who had produced a marble statue of Queen Victoria for the Maharajah of Oodypore.
The statue faces west, looking up Queen's Road towards
Balmoral, the Queen's summer residence.
There are two
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
churches at the intersection;
Queen's Cross Church and
Rubislaw Church
Rubislaw Church is a Church of Scotland parish church in the Queen's Cross area of Aberdeen, Scotland. It has a recently refurbished church centre on Fountainhall Road.
History
Rubislaw Church was constructed as part of a national Church of ...
, and also St Joseph's Primary School.
There was a tram depot at Queen's Cross. The building was purchased by
Grampian Television
Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...
in 1960 and converted into their television studios and headquarters. In 2003 Grampian Television relocated their studios and offices to new premises in
West Tullos; the former tram depot was subsequently demolished by 2004 with new flats built on the site.
The surrounding buildings and their streets are typical of the Victorian period in which they were built. They are built of the local gray
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
.
The Queen's Cross area, particularly Queen's Road and Albyn Place, is home to the offices of many finance businesses who have moved into the old Victorian mansion houses. There are also a number of exclusive restaurants and bars in the area.
This area is considered by many in the local area as the centre point of the West End of Aberdeen.
References
{{Coord, 57, 8, 36, N, 2, 7, 32, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
Areas of Aberdeen