Aberdeen City Building Warrants
- Reference:GB 230 BW
- Dates of Creation:19th - 20th century
- Name of Creator:
- Language of Material:English
- Physical Description:c. 37 linear metres
Scope and Content
Architectural drawings of buildings dating from 1871 to 1946. The vast majority are drawings of proposed building work in the City which were submitted to the local authority for their approval; these are known as "building warrant drawings". The remainder were produced or used by the Corporation of the City of Aberdeen Burgh Surveyor's department in the course of their other duties.
The drawings have been listed according to their provenance, as follows -
BW/A + sequential number Building warrant drawings (folded series, submitted before Dec 1879)
BW/Original number (no prefix) Building warrant drawings (folded series, submitted after Dec 1879) - An Asterisk in the reference number indicates that the number is not written on the plan, but has been gleaned from the House Plans books
BW/P + original number Building warrant drawings (rolled series)
BW/TP + original number Town Planning Committee drawings
BW/M + sequential number Other drawings
Administrative / Biographical History
The requirement to submit plans of new buildings or of proposed alterations to existing buildings was first enacted in the Aberdeen Police and Waterworks Act, 1862. Under section 296, persons intending to start building work within the city boundary were required to submit a drawing to the Police Commissioners showing the depth of the foundations and an outline of the new building in relation to adjoining buildings. It appears that these drawings were usually approved by the Burgh Surveyor until 1869 when the Police Commissioners resolved to consider individual applications for approval at their meetings. Thereafter decisions on submitted drawings - and particularly details of conditional approvals - may be gleaned from the Street Committee minutes of the Police Commissioners until 1871, from the Town Council Police Department minutes from 1871 to 1883, and from the minutes of the Plans Committee of the Town Council from 1884 to 1946. Throughout this period the Burgh Surveyor remained responsible for presenting the drawings to committee, checking the completed building against the proposal outlined in the drawings, and retaining the drawings for future reference. The Burgh Surveyor's record of drawings submitted to the Town Council from 1879 to 1949 are also housed in the City Archives (reference CA/29/2). These "House Plans Books" may provide additional information on the construction of buildings included in the building warrant series.
The requirement to submit plans of proposed building work was limited to areas within the city boundary. Until 1883, this comprised only the city centre, Footdee, Rosemount, the west end as far as Queen's Cross and the northern part of Ferryhill. The boundaries were shifted in 1883 to include the southern end of the Spital, Kittybrewster, the southern end of Holburn Street, the southern end of Ferryhill and the developing area to the west of the city as far as Forest Road and Forest Avenue and in 1883. Massive expansion in 1891 to include all areas south of River Don - including Old Aberdeen and Woodside, agricultural land of Middlefield, Cairncry, Mastrick, Hilton, Stockethill, Summerfield, villa developments on lands of Rubislaw and expanding areas of Broomhill, Ruthrieston and Torry.
From 1881 the plans submitted for approval had to be far more detailed. Floor plans and sections of each storey were now required, in addition to the bare details of position, foundations and drains. Moreover, the floor plans and sections had to be at a scale of not less than one-eighth of an inch for dwelling houses, and one-sixteenth of an inch for public works. Details of the materials and dimensions of walls and drains were also to be noted on the plans, and, vitally, for their preservation, the plans had to be drawn in ink on durable tracing cloth (Aberdeen Corporation Act, 1881, section 50). The Act was amended in 1893 adding elevations of the proposed building to the list of requirements, establishing a basic format for plans of proposed buildings which remained largely unchanged until recent years. The term "building warrant plan", which technically applies only to plans of proposed building works after the introduction of national building control procedures in 1964, is also used to describe the plans passed by the Police Commissioners and the Town Council since 1862.
The building warrant plans amassed in the Burgh Surveyor's department were divided according to their format. Drawings for certain large projects were retained in a rolled format, and were allocated a sequential number prefixed by P. These plans have been left as a separate series, and are described more fully below. In contrast, the vast majority of plans submitted for approval have been folded to a standard size. These folded plans were stored in alphabetical order by street name, but have been re-arranged chronologically, and have been allocated a unique reference number. The surviving plans from before December 1879 have been allocated a new sequential number, prefixed by A. The plans submitted after December 1879 use their original reference number without any prefix. The latter number can be used to access the relevant entry for each plan in the register of applications, or "House Plans Book". In addition to the details provided in this list, the House Plans Book may also provide details of conditions attached to the approval, the date of the start and finish of building work, and notes of deviations from the approved plans in the completed building.
Access Information
Open
None
Other Finding Aids
Please see the Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives catalogue at https://archives.aberdeencity.gov.uk/CalmView/
Conditions Governing Use
Rests with the individual architectural firms or Aberdeen City Council, in cases where the drawing was executed by a member of staff.
Custodial History
Police Commissioners minutes, volume 12, pp 105, 197; volume 13, p 304. Section 32 Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897
Police Commissioners minutes, Volume 13, p304: Street Committee, 26 January 1869. Resolved that "all plans, on being lodged at the office, should be sent to the Surveyor, and, on receiving his sanction, should be laid before the succeeding meeting of this Committee for approval, such approval to be confirmed by the signature of the Chairman."
Police Commissioners minutes, Volume 14, p447: Street Committee 12 July 1871. Resolved that the block plan for each application shall be retained by the Commissioners and shall become their property; other plans to be returned to applicant, or if application refused, a note of the decision of the Committee.
Police Department minutes, Volume 15, p62: Street Committee, 20 November 1871. Resolved to notify builders that under section 131 of the Aberdeen Municipality Extension Act 1871, plans lodged for approval become the absolute property of the Town Council.
See 7 (133, 160), 16 (147, 162, 177, 194), 20 (93, 104), 21 (82).
Accruals
Acc 237 City building warrant drawings, 1948 – 1960
Acc 116 City Architect's architectural drawings submitted for building warrant approval, 1947 - 1969
Acc 274 County planning files for areas of Aberdeen and Kincardine Counties transferred to Aberdeen City District in 1975, covering 1947-1975
Acc 3219 Aberdeen City Planning Records: Rolled and Folded Plans, 1948-1994
Also City Architect's Department drawings (Acc 099, 134, 481)
Related Material
CA/29/2 Aberdeen Town Council House Plan Books, or Building Warrant Registers of Applications 1879-1949.
Subjects