Mina Villa @ Miller Academy

[crashbandicoot1979]

To settle a very minor dispute, does anyone happen to know when Mina Villa was knocked down? One of us says late 60s, one says early 70s and one says late 70's/early 80s.

[unicorn]

70's I think

[crashbandicoot1979]

Thanks Unicorn :grin:

[The Pepsi Challenge]

A wonderful building. Was situated inbetween the car park and the dining hall. Rumour has it the building was closed and demolished due to a death(s) at Mina Villa. Shame, it really was a nice building. If you look to the left of the top gate at Miller (at the corner where the train station is) you'll notice the wall has been filled in. Tractors used to use it to get into the park long ago.

[crashbandicoot1979]

A wonderful building. Was situated inbetween the car park and the dining hall. Rumour has it the building was closed and demolished due to a death(s) at Mina Villa. Shame, it really was a nice building. If you look to the left of the top gate at Miller (at the corner where the train station is) you'll notice the wall has been filled in. Tractors used to use it to get into the park long ago.

I'm too young to remember it but I've been told that there's no way they would knock down a building like it nowadays. It was used as a TV room or something at one stage, and was meant to be haunted although I've never heard of any ghost encounters in it.

[DrSzin]

To settle a very minor dispute, does anyone happen to know when Mina Villa was knocked down? One of us says late 60s, one says early 70s and one says late 70's/early 80s. The demolition of the building took place in 1978 (http://www.milleracademy-thurso.co.uk/Webpages/mina_villa.htm):

In the school log, at the start of session 1978-79, the removal of the Villa is reported by the Head Teacher, Mr McIvor. He states, ‘Mina Villa demolition completed during the summer vacation and area now ready for tarmacadam, exit points and car parking space.’

[Sporran]

How sad that such a lovely building was demolished! :( I spent the first part of Primary 2 there, and my classroom was just to the right of the tower, as you look at the photo in the link that DrSzin posted. Later, our class was moved to the other old part of the school, which was eventually turned into the Thurso Public Library.

I love Victorian architecture, and as I've expressed before, it'll be a very sad day when Viewfirth meets the same fate!

[crashbandicoot1979]

Wow, thanks so much for that link, DrSzin.

I had no idea that it was such a big building, I can't believe they knocked it down! And I agree, Sporran, I'll be sorry to see the Viewfirth go aswell. I think its a lovely building.

[ice box]

Was that in miller academy's grounds ? what a nice house why knock something like that down ?

[The Pepsi Challenge]

They knocked it down for reasons no-one seems to want to elaborate on. Very very peculiar. I don't wish to speculate as to why, but there were some glaring ommissions from the Miller Academy website Szin pointed us in.

[DrSzin]

They knocked it down for reasons no-one seems to want to elaborate on. Very very peculiar. I don't wish to speculate as to why, but there were some glaring ommissions from the Miller Academy website Szin pointed us in.Go on Pepsi, enlighten us. Please. :)

[Errogie]

The first time I ever saw an artifical leg in the flesh so to speak was in a shed at the back of Mina Villa. It (the leg) was stuffed full of papers and I guess it belonged to Don Gunn the janitor. I think he retired to run a guest house in Aberdeen but he lived in the villa for as long as I can remember.
As small boys we were slightly shocked and reverential and carefully put it back again although the possibilities for mischief could have been endless.

The building had as much architectural merit as the old part of the main school and certainly more then the various huts

[rich]

There was a shelter type building a little to the west, below Mina Villa by the Lovers' Lane wall. I remember a group of us playing pitch and toss for pennies. I believe the janitor put a stop to this. That would have been during the Korean War because there was a lot of earnest discussion about communists and the 48th Parallell. There was a rookery there too, behind Mina Villa which added to the Gothic flavour of the place. What an awful thing to knock down that lovely building! Nowadays one could have rented it out as a movie set....