Basic Biographical Details Name: | William Stark | Designation: | | Born: | 25 May 1770 | Died: | 9 October 1813 | Bio Notes: | William Stark was born on 25 May 1770 in Dunfermline, the son of Mark Stark of Lasswade, Midlothian, a merchant and millowner in Glasgow. One of Stark’s older sisters married the Glasgow architect John Craig. It is possible that Stark was a pupil in his office. Stark married Catherine Thomson, daughter of George Thomson who was a musical scholar. The couple had one daughter, also Catherine.
In 1798 Stark visited St Petersburg presumably in connection with a commission there. There may have been a link to the architect Charles Cameron, then employed in Russia.
Stark’s career began in Glasgow but he moved to Edinburgh for the sake of his health about 1807. He is listed in Post office directories at various addresses in Edinburgh. He died at his home in Drumsheugh, Edinburgh, on 9 October 1813.
Stark must have suffered from poor health for some time before his death. Sir Walter Scott who thought highly of him remarked that ‘he must rise very high in his profession if the bad health from which he suffers does not keep him down’. Elsewhere he described him as having ‘genius’. The ‘Scots Magazine’ at the time of his death said ’ his reputation, deservedly high in Scotland, was spreading rapidly in England at the time of his death’. The Lunatic Asylum in Gloucester for which he had drawn up plans was completed after his death.
Stark was an original thinker. He was aware of contemporary medical opinion about the organisation of asylums and published 'Remarks on the Construction of Public Hospitals for the Cure of Mental Derangement' in 1807. At Glasgow he attempted to put his ideas into practice and to segregate by sex, social background and mental condition, one of the earliest asylums attempting to do this.
Stark was also an innovative town planner. He printed 'Report to the Lord Provost, Magistrates and Council of Edinburgh on the Plans for Laying out the Grounds for Buildings bewteen Edinburgh and Leith' which was published posthumously in 1814. It was also published in the Scots Magazine in 1815. This is a remarkably forward thinking understanding of the Edinburgh townscape. His principles, which included variety in layout rather than a rigid grid of streets, careful attention to contours, the benefits of oblique views and the picturesque value of trees) were mainly put into plan carried out by William Henry Playfair. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Glasgow, Scotland | Business | | | |
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | APSD | | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | | | APSD | | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | | | Cockburn, Henry | 1910 | Memorials of his Time | | | pp278-9 | | Colvin, H M | 1995 | A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 | 3rd edition | New Haven and London: Yale University Press | | | Gomme, Andor and Walker, David | 1987 | Architecture of Glasgow | Second revised edn | London: Lund Humphries | pp69-71, 300 | | Grierson, H J C | | Letters of Sir Walter Scott | | | Volume covering 1811-14, pp34, 65, 368 | | Henderson, E | 1879 | Annals of Dunfermline | | | p569 | | Library of Willliam Stark | | Sale catalogue of Stark's Library | | | | | New DNB | | New Dictionary of National Biography | | | | | Pride, Glen L | 1999 | The Kingdom of Fife | 2nd Edition | The Rutland Press | p10 | | RCAHMS | 1992 | Dundee on Record | | RCAHMS | p21 Reconstruction drawing Of Dundee Asylum by D.M. Walker, showing the asylum's various building stages between 1812 and 1860 (1952). | | Youngson, A J | 1966 | The Making of Classical Edinburgh | | Edinburgh University Press | pp149-152 |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | 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 that included discussion of Stark's work | | Town Planning Review | 1928 | xiii | | pp69-71. Article by T Harold Hughes 'Edinburgh: An Early Ninteenth Century Town Planning Scheme'. |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | NAS | Dunfermline Register | | | | NAS National Archives of Scotland | Various accounts: imprests | CC8/8/142, f.315 | Testament of William Stark | | National Library of Scotland | Manuscript Collection | MS. 1758 | Memoir by R Gordon Stark. |
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