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Friday, 9 July 2010

UPDATED: First Look - Hardgate Well

UPDATE.

The new/original (confusing!) Hardgate Well is in this photo, note concentric setts. We didn't see it when taking the photo!

Pavement arrangement suggests that this 'pocket plaza' was or is intended for vehicle access. Odd - there's no access into the hotel building from the plaza that we remember, other than by climbing two flights of stairs. Memory might be playing tricks, tho.



The arch which was there before the hotel development was a 17th century artifact which was only approximately in the location of the original well which figured in the story of the 15th century battle and atrocities at this site.



Thinking 3-dimensionally, the arch would have been about 2 metres higher and 7 metres NW of the new item which IS the original well; re-discovered during the construction of the hotel, visible below the grille.

We've not yet had long enough to think about which we prefer. But we're probably coming down on the side of the new item. It is in the correct location, it's hidden in plain view (we like that), and it makes no pretense at being a 'reconstruction'.

The 'pocket plaza' location is a bit stark - but it's not quite finished yet, we'll need to wait and see what the landscaping comes out like. It looks like there's some interesting recessed lighting on the pocket plaza.

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Here's a first look at the new Hardgate well:


The 1970's commemorative plaque has been retained.





2 comments:

  1. Julie9 July 2010 at 11:53

    Dunno - I think the hotel looks so obtrusive & out of place squatting there. Walking down past the Bauhaus, which fits in beautifully BTW, you see this thing sitting there, looking like a big set of white teeth biting down on a black object.

    They should have turned it back into the park it used to be, long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Key Stakeholder9 July 2010 at 14:30

    I agree, the hotel building looms horribly. Check it out from the spot where Bon Accord Terrace meets W. Craibstone St.

    Didn't know that it used to be a park there. My parents wax lyrical about 'Strawberry Bank' - a row of picturesque cottages which stood there till 1967.
    http://www.nls.uk/maps/townplans/view/?sid=74414945&mid=aberdeen_sw
    When was it a park?

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