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Jamie’s Italian Aberdeen

Union Street Renewal Project: Restaurant in North East Scotland design by Stiff & Trevillion Architects

20 May 2013

Jamies’s Italian Restaurant Aberdeen

Renewal of former Esslemont and Macintosh department store

Architects: Stiff & Trevillion Architects

The restaurant occupies the first and second floors of the Union Street frontage of the old Esslemont and Macintosh department store. This was a retail landmark in the city and is a listed building.

photos © Keith Hunter

The design respects the original building, and restores the windows, cast iron structure and wooden floors. The exterior will be repaired and cleaned and the original mosaic signage retained.

Aberdeen will be the most northerly of Jamie’s Italian restaurants, it is known as the “Granite” or “Silver” City, and the greyness of the stone buildings, and North Sea weather is something we wanted to contrast with an interior that is warm and sunny.

The restaurant will reflect the scale and grandeur of E&M in its glory days, a patterned Terra cotta screen surrounds the staircase and forms a vibrant and dynamic centrepiece to both levels. The idea of fire and sun is further explored with the open kitchen, bar and antipasti counter. The palette of materials has been selected to create a warm welcoming and cosy interior.

photos © Keith Hunter