Private Housing
New houses:
In this period a few private houses were built, as ribbon developments at the east end of North Street and each end of South Street.
The J B Rattray postcard from around 1938 gives a view from behind the entrance to Causewayend Quarry with Kirkton (built 1928) on the left, and 177 North Street (built 1932) on the right, of the 1930 council houses. The other views were taken in 2017.
177-189 North St From Causewayend, c.1940
179 North St, 2017
Kirkton, North St, 2017
191 North Street (left) was built in 1956. Kenny McLennan had No.193 built in 1964 as a timber house which was extended and refaced in 2006.
191 North St, 2017
193 North St, 2017
Claremount was built in 1928 on the feu east of the Aberchirder schoolhouse. At the west end of South Street Hillcrest was built in 1926 and Househill – now Willsholm – in 1935.
Claremount, South St, 2017
Hillcrest, South St, 2018
Willsholm, South St, 2017
Grants:
In 1962 a Housing Act enabled the Town Council to adopt a new approach to slum clearance by offering grants to property owners to bring their houses up to standard. The results of this – and a general encouragement of improvements which continued into the 1970s – can be seen in the survival in sections of North Street, Main Street and South Street of many original properties which would otherwise have disappeared.. Happily, this has left streetscapes which make it easy to imagine how they looked in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
On the north side of North Street the original appearance has survived in some places, including Nos. 1-19 and 137-147.
The 1970 view west from No.29 includes buildings on the lefthand side of the street, either side of Cornhill Road, which were soon to be demolished.
North St West From No.29, c 1970
North St Looking East From No.1, c.1920
1-19 North St, 2017
North St Looking West From No.147, c.1910 e
137-147 North St 2017
In Main Street this view of the north side east of the Square, taken around 1910, has changed very little.
87-127 Main St, c.1907
87-125 Main St, 2017
And the south side east from the Square still looks much as it did after the 1900s improvements.
Main St Looking West From Square, c.1925
Main St Looking West From Square, 2017
Although much slum clearance took place in South Street, the west end from Huntly Road to No.23 (Southview) has been largely preserved.
South St, West End, c.1900
South St West End, c.1908 cr
7-20 South St, 2017
Unhappily by 2017 the stretch of North Street between Huntly Road and School Lane contained several derelict sites, including that of the former Memorial Hall and the block of houses at 101-107 North Street, formerly owned by Robert Anderson and latterly the offices of his son, building contractor Leslie Anderson, until the 1980s.
