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Basic Biographical Details
| Name: | Alexander Thomson |
| Designation: | Architect |
| Born: | 9 April 1817 |
| Died: | 22 March 1875 |
| Bio Notes: | Alexander ['Greek'] Thomson was born at Endrick Cottage, Balfron, on 9 April 1817, the seventeenth child of John Thomson and the ninth child of his second marriage to Elizabeth Cooper. John Thomson was the bookkeeper at Kirkman Finlay's cotton works there and had previously held a similar position at Carron Ironworks. Advancement with both firms was precluded by his strict Burgher beliefs which were shared by his wife: she had come to Balfron with her brother, the Rev John Cooper. The family was educated at home, partly by Cooper, but John Thomson died in 1824 and the family had to move from Balfron to the outskirts of Glasgow. Elizabeth died in 1828, leaving the family in the care of her son William, a brilliant classical scholar who was briefly professor of humanity at the University of Glasgow. In 1834 William Thomson moved to London as a missionary, leaving his brothers and sisters at his house at Hangingshaw. In the same year Alexander became a clerk in a Glasgow lawyer's office. There his drawing skills attracted the attention of a client, Robert Foote, who had inherited the large plasterer's business of David Foote & Son in 1827 and had commenced practice as an architect in 1830. Foote's architectural practice was small but in association with the decorative plasterwork side of his business he had amassed a magnificent library and a large collection of classical casts from which Thomson learned much in the two years he was articled to him. In 1836 a spinal complaint obliged Foote to withdraw from architectural practice and Thomson completed his articles with John Baird, remaining with him first as assistant and later as chief draughtsman when much of his time was spent on the unbuilt college on Woodlands Hill. In the early 1840s Thomson's younger brother George, born at Balfron on 26 May 1819 was also articled to Baird, after recovering from a respiratory complaint which had been thought to be consumption. On 21 September 1847 Alexander Thomson married Jane Nicholson, daughter of the London architect Michaelangelo Nicholson and granddaughter of the architect-writer Peter Nicholson. It was a double wedding, her sister Jessie marrying another John Baird ('Secundus') who, although an architect, had no family or professional connection with the Thomsons' employer. Born in Ayr in November 1816, Baird was some five months older than Thomson. He had been articled first to James Watt and then to John Herbertson before finding a place in the office of David and James Hamilton where he was, very unusually, named in the Directory entry. After David Hamilton died in 1843 and his firm was sequestrated in 1844, Hamilton's son-in-law James Smith continued his practice and John Baird commenced practice on his own account. After the financial problems of the Hamilton and Smith businesses were resolved Smith and Baird merged their practices as Smith & Baird. Their partnership does not seem to have been a happy one and was dissolved in 1848 when Baird invited his brother-in-law to join him, the new partnership being entitled Baird & Thomson. Within two years the Baird & Thomson partnership was extremely successful with a large clientele for medium-sized villas and terraces of cottages in Pollokshields, Shawlands, Crossmyloof, Cathcart, Langbank, Bothwell and Cove and Kilcreggan. At Cove and Kilcreggan they enjoyed the support of the builder, railway contractor and ironfounder John McElroy who commissioned Craig Ailey in 1850 and built a considerable number of other marine villas either speculatively or for clients. These early villas were generally either Gothic, sometimes with Pugin-derived details, or Italian Romanesque but a few, most notably Glen Eden at Cove, had very original elements which, as Gavin Stamp has shown, have their origins in the publications of the architectural historian and theorist James Fergusson. In 1854 Thomson began designing in a picturesque, asymmetrically-composed, pilastraded, neo-Greek idiom which derived from Schinkel at Rockbank, Helensburgh and the Mossman studio on Cathedral Street. These were followed by the Scottish Exhibition Rooms in Bath Street which he and some architect friends built to provide a Scottish counterpart to the period courts in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. This decisive shift to the neo-Greek which would remain characteristic of him and by then had no counterpart either in Edinburgh or south of the Border was quickly followed by a change of partner. In 1856 the partnership of Baird & Thomson was amicably dissolved so that Thomson could form a separate practice with his brother George who may still have been in the office of John Baird Primus: the record is not absolutely clear. The new partnership quickly acquired influential contacts, notably the builder John McIntyre. Others were probably made through UP Church contacts. In 1856-57 Thomson's architecture developed rapidly. The neo-Greek of Rockland achieved a much more sophisticated maturity in the Double Villa at Langside and his finest house, Holmwood at Cathcart. In the same years a more monumental but still asymmetrical Greek idiom was applied to church design at Caledonia Road UP, where both the lower faηade and the tower were of Schinkelesque banded masonry. This banded treatment was extended into the adjoining tenement blocks for which he devised a repetitive bay design with pilastered first-floor aedicules and third-floor recesses containing anthemeon ornament. In the following year, 1857, this theme was further developed on a vast scale at Queens Park Terrace in which Thomson adopted his familiar device of linked Egyptian architraves set against a recessed wall plane and omitted the banded masonry. With subtle variations this formula was to remain a feature of his more upmarket tenements for the remainder of his career. The same motifs, now with a top-floor pilastrade, were to feature at Walmer Terrace and the first of his commercial blocks, 99-107 West Nile Street, both built in 1857. In 1858 Alexander and George Thomson bought the Gordon Street UP Church in which they worshipped in order to build a showpiece warehouse with ground-floor shops - a fairly innovative concept at the time - in which the David Hamilton theme of interpenetrating pilastrades was developed into the same repetition of absolutely regular single-bay units, here much more complex in design, crowned by a deeply shadowed eaves gallery. It did indeed attract commissions for similar structures in which the same themes were further developed with an ever-increasing subtlety in which overlaid and superimposed pilastrades and dwarf eaves gallery colonnades varied the original formula. The Gordon Street development financed the Gordon Street congregation's new church in St Vincent Street, built in 1857-59, which again must have been intended as an advertisement for their services. Stylistically it marked a further advance drawing upon wider areas of antiquity than Caledonia Road, but in the event it attracted only one further church commission, that for Queen's Park Church, built in a similar but externally less ambitious idiom in 1868-69. Thomson's widely recognised professional successes in the 1850s were clouded by a series of tragic events at home. In the early years of their marriage Alexander and Jane lived at 3 South Apsley Place in Laurieston. Agnes Elizabeth was born on 24 April 1849, Elizabeth Cooper on 31 January 1851 and Alexander John on 27 November 1852. But Laurieston, although then still a good address, proved vulnerable to the cholera epidemic of 1854 and on 14 March of that year Agnes Elizabeth died. Jane Nicholson, born 8 August 1854, died on 13 February 1855, George born 8 August 1855 survived only until 31 December 1856, and on 3 January 1857 Alexander John died leaving Elizabeth Cooper the only survivor from a family of five. Later in that year the Thomson household moved to Darnley Terrace, a recently completed development he had designed at Shawlands. There on 12 April Amelia was born, followed by Jessie Williamina on 10 April 1858 and the future architect son John on 20 June 1859. In 1861 the Thomsons moved again to Moray Place in Strathbungo, taking the northmost house in a two-storey terrace block built as a speculative venture in association with his measurer John Shields and the builder John McIntyre. Designed in 1859 it was predictably the finest and most original of his earlier terraces, the large end houses being advanced and pedimented with a giant order of pilasters. There Helen was born on 9 July 1861, Catherine Honeyman on 11 February 1863, and Michael Nicholson on 13 October 1864. Peter was born on 19 March 1866, but survived only sixteen days. The size of Alexander Thomson's family seems to have restricted travel. Family holidays were invariably spent in a rented house on Arran. His only recorded trip to London was in 1861 when he visited John James Stevenson, but he may well have made earlier visits. His knowledge of antiquity and of contemporary architecture seems to have been derived from a magnificent library and from the building journals, one of these being the 'British Architect', of which he was one of the founding shareholders in 1874. In the 1860s the practice was notably prosperous, in large part as a result of the developments undertaken by the accountant Henry Leck, the cab hirer John Ewing Walker and the builder William Henderson who was the client at North Park Terrace (1863-66); 126-138 Sauchiehall Street (1864-66); 249-259 St Vincent Street (1865-67); Grecian Buildings, 252-270 Sauchiehall Street (1868-69); and Great Western Terrace (begun 1869). All of these were built with borrowed money and the practice must have suffered a notable drop in income when Henderson died in May 1870, his property being sequestrated in June. With the practice at a relatively low ebb George Thomson carried out his long-planned intention of becoming a missionary and emigrated to the Cameroons in the Spring of 1871, although he was to remain a partner until 1873. By 1872 Thomson was in failing health because of asthma and bronchitis, and it was probably because of illness that in February of that year Henry Leck, hitherto a faithful client, commissioned first John Baird and then Peddie & Kinnear to design his building on Gordon Street, replacing an earlier Thomson scheme for a different site which had been stalled by the Caledonian Railway's proposals for Glasgow Central Station. In February 1874 Thomson took Robert Turnbull into a partnership which was backdated to October 1873, probably on account of services rendered since that date. Born in 1839, Turnbull was the son of William Turnbull, joiner and his wife Mary Deans and was more inspector of works than architect, engaged for the 'outdoor' side of the business as correspondence with the Thomson trustees in July 1876 makes clear. But through the family joinery business he did bring new clients in the Lenzie area, for which earlier Thomson villa designs were either reused or adapted. The immediate catalyst for this partnership may have been Thomson's commitment to the Haldane lectures, a series of four delivered in the Spring of 1874. These were a final statement of ideas developed in earlier lectures delivered from 1853 onwards, most of them to the Glasgow Architectural Society and the Glasgow Institute of Architects. These he had co-founded in 1858 and 1868 respectively: he was President of both, the Society in 1861 and the Institute from 1870 to 1872. In August 1874 Thomson wrote to his brother that 'Mr Turnbull and I are getting on pretty well we are busy with a number of smallish jobs'. But in the winter of 1874-75 his asthma and bronchitis deteriorated and his decision to winter in Italy to regain his health had been left too late. Thereafter he worked mainly at Moray Place and at the time of his death on 22 March 1875 he had been working on a competition design for a town hall. This may have been for Paisley or for Annan, or more probably both: the Annan design is preserved in a relatively coarse presentation perspective made after his death. In 1897 one of Alexander Thomson's former assistants, William Clunas, put on paper a vivid pen portrait of him at the request of Thomas Ross, together with an indication of what it was like to work in his office. Clunas remembered him as: 'a distinguished looking man of good average height, stout, well and proportionally made, a fine manly countenance with a profuse head of hair. His general appearance was indeed, very much in harmony with the strength and elegance which he imparted to the structures he designed, while the genial smile which so often overspread his face might be fittingly compared to the finished enrichment which was so marked and pleasing a feature of his compositions. 'In general character he was very unassuming and to those in his employment he was always considerate and even affectionate. By his professional brethren he was held in the highest esteem if one judged from the numbers of the best of them who used to call upon him. 'His pupils were well aware of the great Art Master they were under and experienced the inconveniences as well as the advantages of such a position for the strictly professional side of business he had little capacity - punctual he was not, neither was he persevering. You could not say he was indolent, but there was a dreamy unrest about him even when engaged on important work which caused matter-of-fact people who were waiting for further details or instructions some annoyance. But when he did plunge in to a piece of work his attitude was that of a real devotee - patient, forceful, and painstaking While in the mood for work he was apparently urged on by the idea that was moving him at one time buried in thought, at another wielding the pencil with vigour and precision His habit in designing was to sketch the work on a small scale on a scrap of paper, and in the course of his cogitations scores of these scraps of paper would be lying rejected about the floor, each with a miniature design that never failed to display the master hand, but to the master himself it was an oft-repeated effort before he was satisfied 'A notable feature of Mr Thomson's character was his social friendliness. This he displayed in no way more strikingly than the frequent occasions when he had his pupils at his house. He delighted to speak of examples of antiquity of past ages as well as the more familiar antiquarian lore of his own country. Even ghost and fairies' stories were not beneath his notice.' There is no record of when Clunas was in the office, but the absence of any reference to George suggests that it was in 1871-73. But it can be read as indicating the importance of George's role as the business manager of the practice and explain why the practice briefly went into relative decline until Turnbull took over its management in the autumn of 1873. Turnbull took a more commercial attitude to style, recycling or adapting Gothic and Romanesque designs of the 1850s if they better met the wishes of his clients. Of Thomson himself Campbell Douglas recalled in 1889: 'In my experience I have only known one man who confined himself to one style, and if his proposed employers insisted on building in a different style, why, then, he let them go elsewhere. That architect was a great man, who probably made less money than some others did, but he left behind him monuments more worthy of his genius.' Thomson's moveable estate, none of which was inherited, was in fact one of the largest left by any nineteenth-century Glasgow architect at £15,395 5s 6d; he also had substantial property interests. Alexander was buried in the Southern Necropolis. George came back from the Cameroons to help settle his affairs and marry Isabella Johnston, who returned with him to the Cameroons to help run the missionary hospital he had designed and built in 1874. He died of a fever at Victoria on 14 December 1878. |
Private and Business Addresses
| The following private or business addresses are associated with this architect: | |||||
| Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | |
 | 112, Hope Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1848 | c. 1853 | |
| 3, South Apsley Place, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1848 | 1857 | |
| 132, Hope Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | c. 1853 | c. 1854 | |
| 109, Hope Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | c. 1854 | 1856 | |
| 4, Bothwell Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1856 | 1860 | Alexander Kirkland also had his office at this address at this time |
| 4, Darnley Terrace, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1857 | 1861 | |
| 68, Gordon Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1860 | 1861 | |
| 183, West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1861 | 1872 | |
| 1, Moray Place, Regent's Park, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1861 | 1875 | |
| 107, West Regent Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1872 | 1873 | |
| 122, Wellington Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1873 | ||
Employment and Training
Employers
| The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this architect (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
| John Baird 'Primus' (John Baird I) | 1849 | Chief Draughtsman | ||
| John Baird 'Primus' (John Baird I) | Before 1849 | Assistant | ||
| Baird & Thomson | 1849 | 1856 | Partner | |
| A & G Thomson | 1857 | 1873 | Partner | |
| A & G Thomson & Turnbull | 1873 | 1875 | Partner | |
Employees or Pupils
| The following individuals were employed or trained by this architect (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
| James Donald | (?) | (?) | Apprentice | |
| William Clunas (?) | Before 1875 | Assistant | ||
| John Thomson | c. 1865 | c. 1867 | Assistant | |
| Robert Gordon Wilson (senior) | c. 1866 | 1869 | Assistant | |
| Robert Goodwin | 1873 * | Assistant | ||
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Buildings and Designs
| This architect was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | |||||||
| Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | |
| 99-101 Maxwell Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Possible alterations, attribution undocumented - check partnership; date unknown | |||
| Abbey Close UP Church | Paisley | Renfrewshire | Scotland | New doors and furnishings: attribution undocumented, date unknown | ||
| Design for Unidentified Monumental Building | Check partnership; date unknown | |||||
| Design for Unidentified Obelisk | Date unknown | |||||
| Design for Unidentified Tombstone | Possibly by Thomson - check partnership; date unknown | |||||
| Double Villa on Albert Road and Maitland Place | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain - check partnership; date unknown | |||
| Garrowhill House | Baillieston | Glasgow | Scotland | Alterations - attribution undocumented and uncertain, and date unknown - also check partnership | ||
| Tenements and Shops at Springburn Road and Elmvale Street | Springburn | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain - corner shop similar to that at acute corner of Queen's Cross tenements - check partnership; date unknown | ||
| Warehouse and Shop on Stockwell Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain - check partnership; date unknown | |||
| 1847 | University of Glasgow, proposed new college at Woodlands | Woodlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Worked on drawings as assistant to John Baird I | |
| c. 1849 | Design for Unidentified Building with Galleried Interior on Iron columns | |||||
| 1850s | Anchorage | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable - Check partnership | |
| 1850s | Blocks of Tenements, 37?-387 Sauchiehall Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but relief panels are the same as those on demolished warehouse in Howard Street | ||
| 1850s | Carradale | Kilcreggan | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1850s(?) | Design for Romanesque Church with Campanile | |||||
| 1850s | Ellerly | Kilcreggan | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1850s | Ivy Cave Cottage | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| 1850s | Seaton Lodge | Kilcreggan | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1850s | Villa, 26 Maxwell Drive | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds | |
| 1850s | Wodrow Monument, Eastwood Old Cemetery | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds | ||
| 1850 | Cove Cottage, Semi-detached Villas | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| 1850 | Seymour Lodge | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Villa and detached coach house | |
| 1850 | The Knowe and Lodge | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | Original house | |
| 1851 | Ardsloy | Kilcreggan | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but very likely | |
| 1851 | Beech Villa | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1851 | Green Gables | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1851 | Lincoln Villa | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1851 | Manhattan Cottage | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1851 | John Blair & Co Warehouse and Shops | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1851 | Sighthill Cemetery, Mossman Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| 1852(?) | Block of Tenements on Taylor Street and Parson Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| c. 1852 | Craig Ailey, Italian Villa | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| c. 1852 | Sighthill Cemetery, Atwood Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1853 | Langside Estate layout | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1853 | Unitarian Church | Glasgow | Scotland | Competition designs - not successful | ||
| c. 1853 | Braehead Villa | Cathcart | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1853 | St Ann's Lodge | Blairmore | Argyll | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1854 | 1339 Pollokshaws Road | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1854 | Darnley Terrace | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Undocumented--attribution by Worsdall | |
| 1854 | Mossman Sculptor's Studio | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1854 | Rockbank House and Lodge | Helensburgh | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| 1854 | Scottish Exhibition Rooms | Glasgow | Scotland | Greek court | ||
| 1854 | Sessional School | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1854 | 1349 Pollokshaws Road | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1854 | 1353 Pollokshaws Road | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1854 | 1365 Pollokshaws Road | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1854 | 1381-1389 Pollokshaws Road | Shawlands Road | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1854 | Craigrownie House | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | House and boundary wall | |
| c. 1854 | Southern Necropolis, Thomson Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented | ||
| 1855 | Caledonia Road UP Church | Hutchesontown | Glasgow | Scotland | Church and hall | |
| 1855 | Crossmyloof Buildings | Langside | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1855 | Glen Eden Villa | Bothwell | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but certain? | |
| 1855(?) | Knockderry Castle and lodge (Knockderry Cottage) | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Original house | |
| 1855 | Pollok Burgh School | Pollokshaws | Glasgow | Scotland | Baird claimes responsibility | |
| c. 1855 | Eastwood and Rhodove, Double Villa | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain; date unknown | ||
| c. 1855 | Green Bank Villa | Bothwell | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| c. 1855 | Huntly Lodge | Bothwell | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| c. 1855 | The Knowe and Lodge | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | Extension | |
| c. 1855 | Woodside Cottages | Langbank | Renfrewshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds; APSD refers to Langbank. | |
| 1856 | Block of Tenements and Shops, Hospital Street | Hutchesontown | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1856 | Block of Tenements with Shops, Cathcart Road | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1856 | Busby House (for Mr Kessock) | Busby | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Large addition | |
| 1856 | Maria Villa, Langside Hill | Langside | Glasgow | Scotland | Begun by Baird & Thomson; finished by A & G Thomson | |
| 1856 | Upper Clifton House, Craigmore | Rothesay | Bute | Bute | Scotland | |
| c. 1856 | Glen Eden | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds | |
| c. 1856 | Queen's Park Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1857(?) | Design for a Picturesque Villa | |||||
| 1857 | Garnkirk Warehouse | Glasgow | Scotland | New shop front and possibly interior--now destroyed | ||
| 1857 | Holmwood House | Cathcart | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1857 | Office Building with Shops, 99-107 West Nile Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1857 | St Vincent Street UP Church | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1857 | Tenements on Turriff Street and Eglinton Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1857 | Tenements, 1-18 Walmer Crescent | Cessnock | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1858 | A & G Thomson's Warehouse | Glasgow | Scotland | Original building | ||
| 1858 | Tenements on Pollok Street, Houston Street and Watt Street | Kingston | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented | |
| 1858 | Tenements on St George's Road and Shamrock Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | ||
| c. 1858 | Glasgow Necropolis, Steel Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | Undocumented--attribution by Worsdall | |
| c. 1858 | St Mary's Free Church and Manse | Edinburgh | Scotland | Unexecuted competition design | ||
| c. 1858 | Tenements, 211 Eglinton Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1858 | UP Church and Manse | Holm of Balfron | Stirlingshire | Scotland | 1858 plans were unexecuted, but possibly modified for executed church | |
| c. 1858 | UP Manse | Balfron | Stirlingshire | Scotland | ||
| 1859 | 156 West George Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Adaption of lodging house as offices, probably unexecuted | ||
| 1859 | Chalmers Memorial Free Church | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1859(?) | Manchester Assize Courts | Manchester | England | Possibly submitted competition design - unplaced | ||
| 1859 | Sir Robert Peel Statue | Glasgow | Scotland | Plinth | ||
| 1859 | Tenements, West Bank Terrace | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1859 | Sighthill Cemetery, Provan Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1859 | Terrace of houses, 1-10 Moray Place | Strathbungo | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1860s(?) | Baron's Point Villa | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1860 | Cairney Building | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1860 | Tenement with Shops, 26-44 Nithsdale Street | Gorbals Cross | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented by likely | |
| c. 1860 | Baron's Hall | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| c. 1860 | Ferndean Villa | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | House and additions- undocumented but probable | |
| c. 1860 | Regent Park Feuing Plan | Strathbungo | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| c. 1860 | Tenement, 590-612 Eglinton Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1860 | Tenements and Shops on Crown Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and unclear | ||
| c. 1861 | 183 West George Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Reconstruction: attribution on stylistic grounds | ||
| c. 1861(?) | Grantly Terrace | Pollokshaws | Glasgow | Scotland | Possibly an unexecuted design - highly unlikely to have been involved with tenements as built | |
| 1862 | Albert Memorial | Kensington | London | England | Unexecuted design | |
| 1862 | James Lumsden Statue | Glasgow | Scotland | Possibly designed plinth | ||
| 1862 | North Park Feuing Plan | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1862 | Warehouse, 135-137 Argyle Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Additions | ||
| After 1862(?) | Grafton Lodge | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| c. 1862 | Eton Terrace | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1863 | 1-9 Northpark Terrace | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1863 | Buck's Head Buildings | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1863 | Ferndean Villa | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Gates and boundary wall | |
| 1863 | Lilybank House | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | Incorporating house of 1850. | |
| 1863 | Offices, 160 West George Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Additions | ||
| c. 1863 | Strang Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Undocumented--attribution by Worsdall | ||
| 1864 | A & G Thomson's Warehouse | Glasgow | Scotland | Rebuilt to original design after fire | ||
| 1864 | Block of Tenements with Shops, 126-138 Sauchiehall Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1864 | Headstone for Family of Reverend James Thomson | Balfron | Stirlingshire | Scotland | ||
| 1864 | Langside Academy | Langside | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1864 | Natural History Museum | South Kensington | London | England | Unsuccessful competition design | |
| 1864 | Terrace of houses, 11-17 Moray Place | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | ||
| 1864 | Warehouse and Shops, 3-11 Dunlop Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1864 | Sunny Oaks | Langbank | Renfrewshire | Scotland | New art gallery or music room and lodge: attribution undocumented but APSD refers to Langbank | |
| 1865 | Block of Tenements on Scotland Street, Sleads Street and Stanley Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented | ||
| 1865 | Tenements with Shops, 249-259 St Vincent Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1865 | Holmwood House | Cathcart | Glasgow | Scotland | Gardener's cottage and main gates | |
| c. 1865 | House for schoolteacher | Helensburgh | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | 'Probably' (HS) | |
| 1867 | 1-11 Great Western Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | Began terrace | ||
| 1867 | Grecian Buildings | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1867 | McIntyre Monument, Cathcart Old Parish Cemetery | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1867 | St Vincent Street UP Church | Glasgow | Scotland | Hall completed | ||
| c. 1867 | Glasgow Necropolis, Beattie Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1867 | Glasgow Necropolis, Rev George Marshall Middleton Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1868 | Arranview, Commonhead | Airdrie | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attributed | |
| 1868 | Queen's Park UP Church and Hall | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1868 | Tenements with Glass Roofed Streets | Glasgow | Scotland | Unexecuted ideal scheme | ||
| 1868 | Waverley Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1868 | Glasgow Necropolis, Inglis Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1869 | Blackie & Son Printing Works | Glasgow | Scotland | South part of main block - now demolished | ||
| 1870 | Couper Monument, Cathcart Old Parish Cemetery | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution now undocumented and unclear, but likely | ||
| 1870 | Egyptian Halls | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1870 | Loch Katrine Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Unexecuted competition design under pseudonym 'Athenian' | ||
| 1870 | National Bank of Scotland, Argyle Street Branch | Glasgow | Scotland | Alterations to shop to form bank with new ground-floor frontage | ||
| 1870 | Westbourne Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | Only four of ten houses built in Thomson's lifetime | ||
| Before 1870 | Scottish Amicable Building | Glasgow | Scotland | New doorcase and railings on first building at this site; demolished c.1870 | ||
| c. 1870 | 8 Great Western Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | Original building | ||
| c. 1870 | Tenement, 278-282 Cumberland Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| c. 1870 | Tenements on Pleasance Street | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| c. 1870 | Tenements, 303-321 Maryhill Road | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| c. 1870 | Terrace of Houses, 680-701 Great Western Road | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| c. 1870 | Villa, 7 Dirleton Avenue | Shawlands | Glasgow | Scotland | Undocumented attribution by McFazdean on stylistic grounds | |
| 1871 | Chalmers Memorial Free Church | Glasgow | Scotland | Addition of hall | ||
| 1871 | Glasgow Necropolis, Malloch/Blyth Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1871 | Glenbank Terrace | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire | Scotland | Feued by Murdoch & Rodger, writers, who specified Thomson as architect: developed by Robert Turnbull; retained 4 houses in Glenbank Terrace | |
| 1871 | Mission Hall for Missionary Association of the Caledonia Road Church | Hutchesontown | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1871 | Royal Insurance Buildings | Glasgow | Scotland | Alterations to street front, estimated to cost £700 | ||
| 1871 | Sighthill Cemetery, Muir Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1871 | Block of Tenements with Shops, 126-138 Sauchiehall Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Conversion to hotel | ||
| c. 1871 | Castlehill | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1871 | Ellisland | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1871 | Tenements on Lorne Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1872 | Cowcaddens Cross Buildings | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1872 | Design for terrace of houses | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1872 | Double Villa on Albert Road and Lethington Avenue | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | ||
| 1872 | Double Villa on Camphill Avenue | Langside | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1872 | House, 105-107 West Regent Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Extension and alterations for commercial use | ||
| 1872 | Royal Horse Bazaar | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1872 | Scottish Exhibition Rooms | Glasgow | Scotland | Conversion to coach house and stables | ||
| 1872 | The Sixty Steps | Glasgow | Scotland | Some sources claim the steps and adjacent wall were designed by Greek Thomson. However more recent research inidcates that this is not the case and that the scheme was part of the larger engineering undertaking (with Queen Margaret Bridge) for John Ewing Walker. | ||
| c. 1872 | Egyptian Halls | Glasgow | Scotland | Six cast-iron lamp standards, cast by the saracen Foundry of Walter Macfarlane & Co, Glasgow - since removed | ||
| c. 1872 | Tenements on Govan Road and Carmichael Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| 1873 | 1-11 Great Western Terrace | Glasgow | Scotland | Continued building of terrace | ||
| 1873 | 84-112 Nithsdale Road | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution by 'Buildings of Scotland' | ||
| 1873 | Chalmers Memorial Free Church | Glasgow | Scotland | Church enlarged | ||
| 1873 | Edgehill House | Langside | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| 1873 | Tenement with Shops on King Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1873 | Tenements on Cecil Street | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| Before 1873 | Customs House | Glasgow | Scotland | Internal alterations | ||
| c. 1873 | Craigton Cemetery, Cleghorn-Thomson Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution by McFadzean | ||
| c. 1873 | Shore Road Bridge over Dowall Burn | Cove | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| c. 1873 | Tenements with Shops, 504-554 Maryhill Road | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| c. 1873 | Warehouses and Shops on Alston and Gordon Streets | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1874 | Block of Tenements and Shops at Gorbals Cross | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1874(?) | Cockburn Hotel | Glasgow | Scotland | Additions--Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| 1874 | Parkhall UP Manse | Duntocher | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | ||
| 1874 | Rysland | Newton Mearns | Renfrewshire | Scotland | One of the last of Thomson's personally executed works | |
| 1874 | Sighthill Cemetery, Stewart Monument | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented | ||
| 1874 | Tenements, 79-87 Smith Street | Hillhead | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| c. 1874(?) | 18-25 Moray Place | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented: probably not by Thomson but too good for Turnbull himself | ||
| c. 1874 | Lenzie UP Church | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire | Scotland | Unexecuted Romanesque design, probably adapted from an early Thomson design | |
| c. 1874 | Tenement with Shops, 106-132 Gorbals Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | ||
| 1875 | Alexandra Hotel | Glasgow | Scotland | Additions and alterations to existing building to form hotel | ||
| 1875 | Annan Town Hall | Annan | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Unsuccessful competition design | |
| 1875 | Block of tenements and shops on Beaufort Gardens | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably designed by Thomson and completed by Turnbull after his death; later block shows slight design modifications | ||
| 1875 | Craigard | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875(?) | Double villa, Norwood and Hillcroft | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875 | Dunblane Hydropathic Institution | Dunblane | Perthshire | Scotland | Design only - not built; consulted after cost of original Peddie & Kinnear scheme exceeded capital of company | |
| 1875 | Dunluce | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875(?) | Kynachan | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875 | Oakfield | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but very likely by Turnbull | |
| 1875 | Office Building for Daniel McLean | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1875 | Offices, Ingram Street | Glasgow | Scotland | |||
| 1875(?) | Richmond House | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875(?) | Stanley House/Glenside | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| 1875(?) | Woodend | Dullatur | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented and uncertain | |
| Before 1875 | Blocks of Tenements on Sandbank Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented - possibly by Turnbull reworking Thomson's designs for other sites | ||
| Before 1875 | Caledonain Railway administrative offices | Glasgow | Scotland | Consulted and may have produced sketch scheme | ||
| Before 1875(?) | Glasgow Necropolis, Blackie Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably an adaptation of a previously unused design | |
| Before 1875(?) | Glasgow Necropolis, Mitchell Monument | Dennistoun | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable | |
| Before 1875 | Holmwood | North Walkerville | Adelaide | Australia | Designed; the house was built posthumously from published designs | |
| Before 1875(?) | House, 336-338 Albert Drive | Pollokshields | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably designed by Thomson and executed by Turnbull after his death; does not appear in David Thomson's job list and probably begun pre-partnership | |
| Before 1875(?) | Tenements on High Street and Glasgow Road | Rutherglen | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but possible: not in David Thomson's job list, suggesting a start date before 1876 | |
| Before 1875(?) | Tenements with Shops on Titwood Place | Strathbungo | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably designed by Thomson and executed by Turnbull after his death | |
| Before 1875(?) | Terrace of Four Houses, 84-92 Millbrae Crescent | Glasgow | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but probable: does not appear in David Thomson's job list, suggesting a start date before 1876 | ||
| Before 1875(?) | Terrace of Houses, 2-38 and 40-46 Millbrae Crescent | Glasgow | Scotland | Possibly designed by Thomson and carried out by Turnbull after his death | ||
| Before 1875 | Turnbull Monument, Auld Aisle Cemetery | Kirkintilloch | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | Designed; later adapted by Turnbull for his first wife, who died in 1877 | |
| Before 1875(?) | Wingfield | Strathaven | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but possible - date of execution is after Thomson's death | |
| c. 1875(?) | Craigard and Warwick Croft | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented but possibly by Thomson | |
| c. 1875(?) | Double Villas on Heriot Road | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire | Scotland | Attribution undocumented: probably by Turnbull | |
| c. 1875 | Two Blocks of Commercial Premises on Watson Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably an earlier Thomson design erected posthumously by Turnbull | ||
| c. 1875(?) | Warehouse, countinghouse etc, 89-92 Miller Street | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably provided original designs; executed by David Thomson and Robert Turnbull after his death | ||
| Early 1870s(?) | Villa, 27 Victoria Road | Lenzie | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | HS attribution | |
References
Bibliographic References
| The following books contain references to this architect: | ||||||
| Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | |
| Alexander 'Greek' Thomson Architect 1817-1875 | 1984 | Alexander 'Greek' Thomson Architect 1817-1875 | Architectural Association Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1984 | ||
| APSD | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | ||
| Barclay, David | 1904 | Greek Thomson: his life and opinions | Architectural Review May 1904 | ||
| DNB | Dictionary of National Biography | ||||
| Gildard, Thomas | 1888 | Greek Thomson | Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, xix (30 January 1888), pp191-209 | ||
| Gildard, Thomas | 1894 | Greek Thomson | Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, xxiv (3 December 1894), pp99-107 | ||
| Grove Dictionary of Art | Grove Dictionary of Art | ||||
| Law, Graham | 1954 | Greek Thomson | cxv, May 1954 | Architectural Review, May 1954 (Publication of 1960 Cambridge dissertation, original at NMRS) | |
| McFadzean, Ronald | 1968 | The Villas of Alexander Thomson | Dissertation, 1968, Held in RIAS Library | ||
| McFadzean, Ronald | 1979 | The Life and Work of Alexander Thomson | London: Routledge & Kegan Paul | ||
| McKinstry, Sam | 1998 | Rowand Anderson and Greek Thomson | Architectural Heritage IX | ||
| McMurray, Glen | 1965 | Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's Villas | Dissertation, Strathclyde, 1965 | ||
| McNeill, Peter and Walker, David M | 1965 | A Note on Greek Thomson | Summer 1965, vol ii, no 2 | Glasgow Review, vol ii, no2, Summer1965 | |
| RCAHMS | 1999 | Homebuilders: Mactaggart & Mickel and the Scottish housebuilding industry | RCAHMS | p 117 | |
| Stamp, Gavin | 1999 | Alexander Thomson: The Unknown Genius | London: Lawrence King, in association with Glasgow 1999 | ||
| Stamp, Gavin (ed) | 1999 | The Light of Truth and Beauty: The Lectures of Alexander 'Greek' Thomson, Architect, 1817-75 | |||
| Stamp, Gavin and McKinstry, eds | 1994 | 'Greek' Thomson | Edinburgh University Press, 1994 | ||
| Walker, Frank Arneil | 1986 | South Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to Inverclyde and Renfrew | p28, p42, p107 | ||
Periodical References
| The following periodicals contain references to this architect: | |||||
| Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | |
| Architect | 19 November 1886 | Article by D Thomson | ||
| Architects Journal | 28 July 1971 | pp173-174 - mentioned in context of Heron House development, adjacent to St Vincent Street Church | ||
| Architectural Review | May 1904 | Memoir by David Barclay | ||
| British Architect | 26 March 1875 | |||
| British Architect | 16 April 1875 | |||
| Builder | 10 April 1875 | |||
| Builder | 27 October 1961 | 'Architectural Historians' Conference: Papers Submitted to the Edinburgh Meeting' p787 - David Walker delivered a paper entitled 'Towards a New Style' at the SAH (UK) Conference in Edinburgh on 15-17 Sept 1961 in which he discussed Thomson's work | ||
| Building News | 26 March 1875 | |||
| Evening Citizen | 22 March 1875 | |||
| Glasgow Herald | 23 March 1875 | |||
| North British Daily Mail | 23 March 1875 | |||
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