Basic Biographical Details Name: | Auldjo Jamieson & Arnott | Designation: | | Born: | 1910 or 1911 | Died: | 1936 | Bio Notes: | Ernest Arthur Oliphant Auldjo Jamieson was born on 3 December 1880, the son of George Auldjo Jamieson, a very wealthy and influential chartered accountant and Susan Oliphant. He was educated at Glenalmond College and at Cambridge University where he graduated BA in 1903. Information on which office he first entered thereafter is lacking but he was clearly well off as he married Mary Leslie Lassetter early in 1904, his son George Lindsay Auldjo Jamieson, who was also to become an architect, being born 3 February 1905. From 1905 he was living at 32 Murrayfield Road. He was working in the office of Sydney Mitchell & Wilson c.1906, and in 1909 or 1910 he opened his own practice at 1 Melville Street. Later in 1910 or early in 1911 he merged his practice with that of Sydney Mitchell at 13 Young Street, took over Mitchell's practice on his retirement in that year and invited James Alexander Arnott to become a partner.
Arnott was nine years older, born in 1871, the son of George Arnott, builder and Ann Soutar Mackintosh. In 1886 he was articled to John Russell Walker but transferred in 1888 to the office of Kinnear & Peddie: according to Ebenezer James MacRae he 'never ceased to acknowledge the influence of Peddie in his training'. He remained with Peddie as an assistant until 1898 when he transferred to Dunn & Findlay, then under pressure with the commisiion for the Scotsman buildings on North Bridge; later he was to have a hand in their Wesleyan Halls at Tollcross, but in 1904 he moved to the office of Hippolyte Jean Blanc. During those years he attended the University of Edinburgh, the classes at the Edinburgh school of design in the Royal Institution, Heriot-Watt College and the School of [Applied?] Art, and travelled in France and Germany. The outcome of his studies in France was the folio volume on the Petit Trianon which he had surveyed and drawn with John Wilson who had become a close friend while in Peddie's office, published in 1907. In the following year he established his own practice at 21 York Place, sharing it with a former colleague at Dunn & Findlay's, James Inch Morrison, with a partnership in view. Although the obituaries of neither Arnott nor Morrison mention a formal partnership at this time, between 1907 and 1910, they did win the competition for the Charlotte Street Baptist Chapel together in 1908. If indeed some kind of formal partnership did exist, for Arnott the attraction of taking over Sydney Mitchell's practice when Ernest Arthur Auldjo Jamieson invited him to join him in partnership in 1910 or 1911 was too great for the Arnott/Morrison alliance to last. Surprisingly, given his background, Arnott did not take the qualifying exam but was admitted LRIBA in 1910, his proposers being Blanc, Dunn and Watson. In later years, according to Macrae, 'Norway was to cast a spell over him'.
Jamieson was commissioned in the First World War as Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, and was progressively promoted Flight-lieutenant 1916, Flight Commander 1917 and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army Flying Corps. He was mentioned twice in dispatches. He returned to Jamieson and Arnott's office after the war and was admitted FRIBA in 1925. He retired in 1936 because of ill health, dying on 10 April 1937 at the age of fifty-six. The firm then divided. Jamieson's son George Lindsay Auldjo Jamieson then sought a partnership with William James Walker Todd, David John Chisholm then becoming a partner in Dick Peddie & Walker Todd's in the same year. Arnott continued his half of the practice alone for a few years, but in Macrae's words 'gradually combined efforts with James Inch Morrison', the practice becoming Arnott & Inch Morrison, as planned more than thirty years earlier.
James Inch Morrison was six years younger than Arnott, born in 1878. He was articled to the obscure W H Greig of Edinburgh in 1893 and attended Heriot-Watt College. At the end of his apprenticeship he joined first Dunn & Findlay and then Cooper & Taylor as an assistant for some years before moving to Inverness as chief assistant to William Laidlaw Carruthers. At some point before setting up his own practice in 1907 at 21 York Place he travelled in France, Belgium and Holland. He was admitted LRIBA in the mass intake of 20 July 1911.
Morrison died on 25 September 1944. Arnott became a widower in 1939 and worked right up to his death at 7 Mansionhouse Road on 2 September 1950, assisted by J D (Ian) Carnegie who continued the practice. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 13, Young Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1910 or 1911 | After 1930 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils* earliest date known from documented sources.
Buildings and DesignsThis 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 | | | Bakehouse Close and Reids Close | High Street | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Restoration - date unknown | | | Country Houses | | | | Scotland | Dates and locations unknown | | | George Heriot's Hospital | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Restoration of NW stair tower - date unknown | | After 1910 | 6 Oswald Road | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Instructed Scott Morton & Co on interior work | | After 1911 | Craighouse | Craiglockhart | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Took over from Sydney Mitchell & Wilson after 1911 (but may have been responsible for work before this) | | 1914 | Greenfield House | Alloa | | Clackmannanshire | Scotland | Alterations (still trading as Sydney Mitchell & Wilson) | | c. 1914 | Sanatorium and Farm Colony for Tuberculosis, Hairmyres | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Cottages near road/and/or near farm, also male & female pavilions, children's pavilion, observation block, administration block, farm buildings, laundry and power house, gate lodge and doctor's residence | | 1915 | Rosebery House | | | Midlothian | Scotland | Additions | | c. 1919 | Grey House | Murrayfield | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations and additions (possibly including alterations to house, additions to garage, and garden buildings) - thought to be responsible | | c. 1919 | Housing for Midlothian County Council | Stow | | Midlothian | Scotland | | | c. 1919 | Newbyth, stables and offices | Newbyth | | East Lothian | Scotland | Alterations | | c. 1920 | 2 Randolph Cliff | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Internal alterations | | c. 1920 | Housing for Midlothian County Council | Inveresk | | Midlothian | Scotland | | | c. 1920 | Housing for Midlothian County Council | Roslin/Rosslyn | | Midlothian | Scotland | | | c. 1920 | Royal Hospital for Sick Children | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | | c. 1921 | Cargilfield School | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Memorial hall and alterations. Also cricket pavilion (1929) | | c. 1921 | Housing for Midlothian County Council | Gorebridge | | Midlothian | Scotland | | | 1922 | Cardross House and stables | | | Perthshire | Scotland | | | 1922 | Milton Lodge and stables | North Berwick | | East Lothian | Scotland | Alterations and additions | | 1922 | Royal Naval Airship Station | East Fortune | | East Lothian | Scotland | Alterations to convert Airship Station to hospital | | 1922 | Southfield House | Liberton | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Children's pavilion and other alterations | | 1923 | Allanton House | | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Alterations | | 1923 | Cargilfield School, Library and chapel block | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | c. 1923 | Arntomy House | | | Perthshire | Scotland | Alterations | | c. 1923 | Edinburgh Royal Lunatic Asylum | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations - verandahs, kitchen etc | | c. 1923 | House in Barnton Avenue West | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | c. 1923 | Large Public Building | | | | | Scheme - not executed? | | Before 1924 | Craigleith House | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | | c. 1924 | Royal Victoria Hospital, dispensary | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1925 | Astley Ainslie Hospital | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | New ward blocks | | 1925 | Astley Ainslie Hospital, Nurses' Home | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | After 1925 | Lochgilphead District Asylum for the Insane | Lochgilphead | | Argyll | Scotland | New blocks added | | c. 1925 | Busby Glen Park, gates and gatepiers and gates to lodge house | Busby | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Although Lorimer produced design, commission went to Jamieson & Arnott, practising under the name of Sydney Mitchell & Wilson | | c. 1926 | Vogrie House | Borthwick | | Midlothian | Scotland | Conversion to nurses' home | | 1928 | George Watson's College | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Competition design - not selected, but awarded 100-guinea premium | | 1928 | Pittencrieff Park, Louise Carnegie Memorial Gates and railings, paths, walls etc | Dunfermline | | Fife | Scotland | Won competition to secure job | | 1928 | Scottish Life Assurance Co | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | | c. 1928 | Astley Ainslie Hospital | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Further alterations and additions, including scientific block (1929) | | c. 1928 | Engineer's house | North Berwick | | East Lothian | Scotland | | | c. 1930 | Rosebank Cemetery, Memorial tablet for Sir Arthur Mitchell | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | c. 1930 | Sanatorium and Farm Colony for Tuberculosis, Hairmyres | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Further work | | c. 1930 | Warriston Cemetery, Memorial to Sydney Mitchell | Warriston | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | c. 1931 | Gullane Free Church and church hall | Gullane | | East Lothian | Scotland | Alterations? | | 1932 | Astley Ainslie Hospital, Lodges in Canaan Lane | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1932 | Astley Ainslie Hospital, Lodges in Grange Loan | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1932 | United Free Church Offices | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Extensions - eastern addition; balancing western addition planned but not built; enlargement required as a result of the Union of 1929 | | 1933 | Cramond Free Church | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations to hall | | 1933 | Davidson's Mains Parish Church Hall | Davidson's Mains | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1933 | Grey House | Murrayfield | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Further alterations and additions (possibly including alterations to house, additions to garage, and garden buildings) - thought to be responsible | | 1933 | Lennoxlove | Lennoxlove | | East Lothian | Scotland | Alterations | | 1933 | Lennoxlove garden gateway | | | East Lothian | Scotland | | | 1934 | Morningside Asylum, Jordanburn Lecture Hall, West House | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | c. 1934 | Royal Naval Airship Station | East Fortune | | East Lothian | Scotland | Superintendent's house and nurses' home |
ReferencesPeriodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | RIAS Quarterly | 1951 | 38 (Spring) | Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) | Obituary of Arnott by E J Macrae | | RIBA Journal | January 1951 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | Obituary of Arnott by E J MacRae - p121 | | Scotsman | 26 September 1944 | | | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Letter from John D Weir to DMW 25 February 1989 |
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