Basic Biographical Details Name: | Anderson Simon & Crawford | Designation: | | Born: | 1899 | Died: | 1902 | Bio Notes: | Frank Lewis Worthington Simon was born on 31 March 1862 at Darmstadt, Germany, the son of David Worthington Simon DD MA PhD. He was educated at Tettenhall College, Wolverhampton and the King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham, and was articled to John Cotton in Birmingham in 1879. At the end of his apprenticeship, c.1882, he became an assistant to Jethro Anstice Cossins in the same city before joining the atelier of Jean Louis Pascal and enrolling c.1883 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he spent only one year and was a contemporary of Alexander Nisbet Paterson, John Keppie and Stewart Henbest Capper, sharing rooms with the latter two. After completing the course he spent about a year in Glasgow with Burnet Son & Campbell in 1886 and then a similar period with Wardrop & Anderson: according to his RIBA nomination paper he joined that firm just prior to George Washington Browne's departure. Throughout that period, from sometime before March 1885, Simon had his own studio at 8 York Place from which he made a fine series of drawings of old Edinburgh which formed the basis of his 'Etchings of Old Edinburgh'. He won the Tite Prize in 1887 and commenced independent practice in the following year at 34 St Andrew Square, his first significant commission being a fine house, Outwood, at 8 Mortonhall Road for his father, who had now become Principal Simon. He then formed a partnership with his fellow student at Pascal's, Stewart Henbest Capper, winning the competition for Hope Chapel, Wigan, in 1888.
In 1890 Simon came into prominence as the architect of the Edinburgh International Exhibition of that year, working in collaboration with the artist-architect William Allan Carter who also had his own studio at 5 St Andrew Square; in that same year Rowand Anderson and David MacGibbon persuaded thirty well-off individuals to subscribe £1,200 for the formation of the Edinburgh School of Applied Art at the Royal Institution. When classes commenced on 17 October 1892 Simon was its first professor with George Mackie Watson as first assistant, quickly joined by his brother John who had run the Edinburgh Architectural Association classes and by Capper, the last giving the School as a whole a marked Ecole des Beaux-Arts bias in its teaching. All owed their appointments to Anderson's patronage, the Watson brothers also being ex-assistants of Anderson's while Capper was an ex-assistant of his former partner George Washington Browne.
Simon moved his private practice to 36 Hanover Street late in 1891 or early 1892. The School of Applied Art was hugely successful in attracting students and later that same year 1892, pressure of work at the School - where the classes were from 8 to 10am - induced Simon to end his partnership with Capper and enter a short-lived partnership with Charles Edward Tweedie. Tweedie's provenance is not yet known but he had a one-year-old son suggesting an age of about thirty. The Simon & Tweedie partnership won the competition for Llanelly Town Hall in 1892 but lost the commission to the local architect William Griffiths. It had more success in Manchester where Simon had won the competition for the Macfadyen Memorial Church, an office being opened in Manchester to build it. The Simon & Tweedie partnership seems to have closed late in 1895 or early in 1896 and in 1897 Simon resigned his chair to concentrate wholly on his practice.
About 1898 Simon merged his practice with that of Alexander Hunter Crawford Crawford had been born in 1865 of the biscuit-making family. He had been articled c.1880 to John Russell Walker and had remained there until 1885 or 1886 when he had moved to London. After a couple of short-term appointments he had secured a place in the office of Ralph Selden Wornum in 1887, from whom he had moved to the LCC Architects Department for six months early in 1891. He had returned to Edinburgh in August 1891 to commence independent practice at 39 York Place.
The new partnership of Simon & Crawford was based in Simon's office at 36 Hanover Street. In the following year, 1899, there was a further merger with Rowand Anderson's practice as Anderson, Simon & Crawford. While some clients saw Anderson's age and difficult temperament as a problem - he was then sixty-five - the catalyst may have been the competition for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901 for which they prepared an entry. This partnership also proved brief, being dissolved in 1902 as a result of a lawsuit. Simon and Craword then reverted to their previous partnership name, with an office at 10 Randolph Place, Simon's address then being 67 Great King Street. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 16, Rutland Square, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1899 | 1902 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils
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 | | 1899 | Colinton Bank House | Colinton | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Additions and alterations | | 1899 | District Asylum for Midlothian and Peebles | Roslin/Rosslyn | | Midlothian | Scotland | Two new wings added | | 1899 | Falkirk Old Parish Church | Falkirk | | Stirlingshire | Scotland | Additions and alterations | | 1899 | Feuing, Braid Estate | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1899 | Feuing, Fettes Estate | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1899 | Freeland House | | | Perthshire | Scotland | Additions - partial remodelling of entrance front | | 1899 | Inchinnan Parish Church | Inchinnan | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | 1899 | Keir House | Dunblane | | Perthshire | Scotland | New dining room and smoking room and gates of old Lecropt churchyard | | 1899 | Perth Evangelical Union Church | Perth | | Perthshire | Scotland | Begun by Simon alone; completed in partnership | | 1899 | Pollok House, including lodges | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Additions and alterations - porch, kitchen wing and terrace. Glasgow Storey gives details of alterations: The changes included installing electric lighting, a modern kitchen and additional bathrooms with hot and cold running water. Also two new wings constructed. This billiard room is on the principal floor in one of the new wings. | | 1899 | University of St Andrews, St Mary's College | St Andrews | | Fife | Scotland | Remodelling of senate room in library | | 1900 | Dalmeny Street Drill Hall | Leith | | Edinburgh | Scotland | | | 1900 | Dunfermline Abbey | Dunfermline | | Fife | Scotland | West window of south transept? | | 1900 | Ecton Lodge | Inverleith | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alexander Hunter Crawford mainly responsible | | 1900 | University of St Andrews, Chapel of St Salvator | St Andrews | | Fife | Scotland | Pulpit | | 1901 | Claremont Congregational Church | Blackpool | | Lancashire | England | | | 1901 | Pearce Memorial Hall and Institute | Govan | | Glasgow | Scotland | Executed scheme | | 1901 | St James Episcopal Church | Cupar | | Fife | Scotland | Pulpit - Anderson responsible (executed by Whytock, Reid & Co, Edinburgh) | | 1901 | Villas, 16-18 Primrose Bank Road | Trinity | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations (designed by Crawford) | | 1902 | Baile-na-Coille | Balmoral | | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | May have begun in partnership but completed by Anderson | | 1902 | Balmoral Castle | Balmoral | | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | Alterations and additions including infill of arches on south front (or possibly by Mackenzie). Raising service court on south side. Also other work on estate. | | 1902 | Inchinnan Parish Church Hall | Inchinnan | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | |
ReferencesCurrently, there are no references for this . The information has been derived from: the British Architectural Library / RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914; Post Office Directories; and/or any sources listed under this individual's works. |