page_title: Marischal Square
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Marischal Square / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Provost Skene's House and St. Nicholas House The grotesque monster of St. Nicholas House - housing the council headquarters - is seen towering over the 16th Century Provost Skene's House. Provost Skene's was in a bad state of disrepair and was threatened with demolition in the 1930s when the surrounding slum houses were razed to the ground. Fortunately it was saved and is now open to the public. The 1960s abomination that looms behind it is widely regarded as the biggest eyesore in Aberdeen and looks likely to be bulldozed sometime during the next few years.
context_page_description: Marischal Square is a mixed use complex on Broad Street, Aberdeen, Scotland. The development is located on the site of St. Nicholas House, Aberdeen City Council's former 14-storey headquarters building, whose demolition was completed on 18 June 2014, after staff had been relocated to the redeveloped Marischal College across the road.
  The premises is bounded by Broad Street to the east, Upperkirkgate to the north, and Flourmill Lane to the west. Comprising 0.981 hectares, it was developed in a single phase and completed in 2017.
context_section_description: The area in which the development is situated had undergone significant changes over the past two decades. At the close of the 2003/04 academic year, the University of Aberdeen removed the Students' Association from its former building on 2-4 Upperkirkgate on the corner of Broad Street. This was in light of the decline in use of Marischal College as a teaching facility for medicine, with only a few areas remaining in use for other purposes.
  Public university use of Marischal College finally ceased completely in 2008 in preparation for Aberdeen City Council's renovation and use of the building. This carried implications for the commercial viability of the local area: Despite the presence of the Bon Accord & St Nicholas shopping centre nearby, businesses on the Upperkirkgate were affected by the new absence of university students from the area.
caption: The former St. Nicholas House (Provost Skene's House in the foreground)
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