The Soap Factory is a building in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was built in 1922 for Ogston & Tennant, a company which manufactured soaps and candles, and was designed to be the formal office and to stand detached from the main factory and warehouses, which opened onto Loch Street.[1] Ogston & Tennant ceased trading in the 1970s. It is a category C listed building.[2]
In 2025 Code The City, a civic hacking organisation promoting open data, took on the building.[3]
The building
The architect credited with the design of 111 Gallowgate is Alexander Mavor who designed the soap-works for Ogston & Tennant.[4] Alexander Mavor trained as a builder in London before moving to Scotland and joining William Henderson & Sons architectural practice. He became a partner there before leaving to start his own business.[5]
The building on the Gallowgate side has a low classical profile and is built from Kemnay granite. The main entrance has granite steps leading up to two Doric columns set either side of a recessed timbered door. The listing makes particular mention of the granite boundary wall topped with decorative metal railings.[2] To the rear is the basement which is built from brick, not granite, and housed Ogston & Tennant's industrial laboratories.
In 1941 the Loch Street side of the factory site was bombed.[6] At some point in the 1970s Ogston and Tennant ceased trading and the building was then used as a Waldorf school.[7] The interior of the building has been modernised to include serviced office and media space.
Ogston & Tennant
Ogston & Tennant Ltd. was formed in 1898 from two companies joining A. Ogston & Sons and Charles Tennant and Co.[8] At the time of the merger Ogstons already owned both a factory and warehouses in Loch Street, Aberdeen. On 9 March 1910 the company won damages against the Glasgow Daily Record for defamation. This was in connection with another libel, by the Daily Mail against Lever Brothers. It totalled £9,000 and the news was reported around the world.[9]
On 27 June 1910 they suffered a great fire which engulfed and destroyed the factory. Reports mention machinery crashing through the floors. Damage totalled £80,000.[10][11] In 1911 the company agreed to an "association" with Lever Brothers and after the Second World War, they became part of the company until they ceased trading in the 1970s.[8]
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