Basic Biographical Details

Name: MacGibbon & Ross
Designation:  
Born: 1872
Died: October 1914
Bio Notes: David MacGibbon was born in Edinburgh on 2 April 1831, the son of Charles MacGibbon and his wife Rachel Ritchie. Both the MacGibbons and the Ritchies were prominent Edinburgh building families. The MacGibbon business had been founded by David's grandfather, also David, in the later 18th century and had grown immensely in the hands of David's father (who was the original David's second son, the eldest, David Moyes MacGibbon, being a military surgeon) as David MacGibbon & Son, undertaking major country house contracts as far afield as Brownlow Hall and Crom Castle in Ireland. A third brother, John Stevenson MacGibbon, was in charge of these Irish contracts and stayed in Ireland to build on his own account before retiring to Edinburgh. It is not yet known whether David's father and uncle had any training in architecture as well as building, but Charles was sometimes referred to as an architect as well as a builder. They certainly provided him with a wide network of useful professional contacts.

At the age of seven David was sent to a boarding school at Kirkmichael, Lanarkshire, and then to Mr Lithgow's at Stanmore near Lanark before completing his schooling at the Royal High School in Edinburgh. From there he entered the Arts faculty at the University of Edinburgh in 1846, leaving without troubling to graduate in 1849. By that date he had already acquired considerable skill in sketching, as drawings made in the latter year of Tantallon, Jedburgh and New Abbey show. He was then articled to John Lessels and in the summer and autumn of 1851 he made an extensive study tour of north-eastern England before entering the Stratton Street office of William Burn in London. There he found himself working alongside Burn's nephew John Macvicar Anderson, James Donaldson, John Honeyman, John Wornham Penfold, Richard Norman Shaw and William Eden Nesfield. In July-August 1852 he made his first excursion to the continent when he drew in Coblenz and Frankfurt. A further major study tour was made in 1855 when he visited Blois and Chaumont in May, Cluny in early June and northern Italy in late June and July. Shaw heard that MacGibbon was on the continent in August and wrote to him inviting him to join him in Nuremberg. They travelled together visiting the cities and towns of eastern Germany throughout September and October, and then back to Venice and Padua where MacGibbon set off for Ferrara and Shaw for Vicenza. Thereafter he continued his study tour with Shaw's previous travelling companion John Thomas Christopher, sketching in Pisa, Lucca and Siena in December 1855 and January 1856, reaching Rome in February and Naples in April. They worked their way back through Germany in the autumn before embarking on an intense sketching programme of French cathedrals and abbeys in the autumn, exchanging tracings so that each had a full record of what the other had seen.

MacGibbon commenced practice on his return late in 1856, at first in association with his father who had been Master of the Merchant Company in 1852-53. His office was then in his father's house at East Claremont Street and initially he seems to have been principally engaged on the details of three houses his father was about to build in Royal Terrace. In September 1857 he made a short study tour in Wales when on family business at their Cambrian State Quarries and by April 1858 at the latest he had opened his own office at 89 George Street, where he was to provide a meeting room and library for the Architectural Institute of Scotland from 1861.

Within his first four years of practice MacGibbon had replaced David Rhind as architect to the Edinburgh Merchant Company, which brought an extensive feuing business and a continuous programme of repair and improvement to the Company's schools; had become architect to the Grindlay Trust; and had succeeded Archibald Scott in 1861 as principal, though not exclusive architect to the National Bank of Scotland, pioneering a Burn-inspired Scots Baronial for branch bank houses. In the same year he received the commission for the Alhambra Theatre in Nicolson Street, Edinburgh followed by that for the Theatre Royal in Broughton Street in 1865.

To cope with his now much enlarged practice MacGibbon engaged Thomas Ross as his assistant in 1862, taking him into partnership ten years later. Born at Wardheads, Errol on 10 November 1839, Ross was the son of Thomas Ross, a tenant farmer and throughout his long life had the manners and appearance of one: 'a fine simple old-time Scottish gentleman … he combined a sturdy and fearless independence of outlook with the utmost fairness of mind and unfailing courtesy towards those from whom he differed.' His mother was Ann Murray. He was educated at Errol Parish School and Kinnoul Academy before setting out for Glasgow where he was articled to Alexander Kirkland c.1855. When Kirkland closed his Glasgow practice or perhaps even earlier, Ross moved to the much busier office of Charles Wilson from which he won John Thomas Rochead's measured drawing prize with a set of Glasgow Cathedral. This prize appears to have financed a study tour in Yorkshire from which drawings of Fountains, Selby and Ripon survive. In his early Edinburgh years Ross's closest friend was Alexander Graham Bell of telephone fame, a distant relative, with whom he remained in touch until Bell's death in 1922.

On 18 July 1865 MacGibbon married Jessie Vannan Rintoul, the daughter of a well-off Glasgow merchant Peter Rintoul of Bothwell Bank, probably a relative of the Rintouls of Kincardine-in-Menteith and Toronto, who had financed his father's and grandfather's building activities in the 1820s. Probably as part of the marriage settlement Charles MacGibbon made over to him the estate of Laggan at Ballantrae subject to a life rent which expired on his death in 1867; shortly thereafter the MacGibbons built a new house, initially known as Gurphur, on the estate. In Edinburgh they at first rented, and then in 1868 bought Edgehill, a plain house in extensive grounds at Dean, the margins of which MacGibbon subsequently developed as a stylish terrace of houses. These purchases were financed by Standard Life with a £20,000 bond on Laggan.

The same bond enabled MacGibbon to begin building speculatively in the mid-1860s, at least in part to encourage the development of the Merchant Company's Merchiston estate. From 1869 onwards the patronage of the great Edinburgh contracting firm of W & D MacGregor, notably at Bruntsfield, made it less necessary for him to risk his own capital to keep the office staff continually occupied and he developed a significant specialisation in the booming market for hotels, sometimes lending his own borrowed money to finance his clients. The fee income and the sale of some of the Merchiston houses, however, enabled him to build a much larger house to accommodate his three daughters and two sons at Ashfield in Grange Loan in 1874-75. A marked interest in contemporary French architecture was now evident, the details of the MacGregors' Bruntsfield tenements and George Watson's College Hall reflecting the influence of Cesar Daly's folios, while Ashfield had elements of the stripped modern gothic of Viollet-le-Duc.

From the mid-1870s MacGibbon & Ross speculated in property development, MacGibbon being one of the seven principal shareholders of the Leith Heritages Company for which he built much of Learmonth Terrace, such ventures having been made possible by the Companies Act of 1862. In this they paralleled on a smaller scale the activities of Peddie & Kinnear, their companies having the same managing secretary, the accountant A T Niven. To finance this company, the purchase of a new office at 92 George Street and that of 131 Princes Street which he reconstructed as a shop and offices, MacGibbon raised another £3,500 on Laggan, £3,750 on 92 George Street and £10,000 on Princes Street. But in 1878 the City of Glasgow Bank crashed and the bondholders began calling in their loans. More seriously although MacGibbon himself was not a shareholder his uncle John Stevenson MacGibbon had been, his sons James Ritchie MacGibbon and John MacGibbon inheriting £750 each. It was an unlimited company and on the first call for 500% both had to find £3,750. To finance these calls the MacGibbons' Cambrian Slate Quarries were sold, but when the final call came in at 2250%, or £16,875 each, it was more than they had. After initially trying to save his cousins from bankruptcy by further borrowing David MacGibbon sold Laggan in May 1881 and Ashfield in May 1882. The office at 92 George Street was bought by the trustees of Jessie's marriage contract, but the MacGibbons had to rent 17 Learmonth Terrace from the Leith Heritages Company, Jessie eventually buying number 23 in 1886. The George Street office was rented from 1890 when the practice moved to 65 Frederick Street, and was sold to the tenant of the shop in 1901.

Like Charles Kinnear, with whom MacGibbon had some business links, MacGibbon had been an enthusiastic volunteer since the war scare of 1859. He was an excellent shot, becoming a member of the exclusive Scottish Twenty Club and equally good with a sword: these accomplishments brought about his promotion to Lt Col of the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's City of Edinburgh Rifle Brigade in 1880. In the same year he was elected president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association and organised a major exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy (which had five times refused to accept him as an associate), to which he invited contributions from Shaw and John McKean Brydon. Earlier in the same year he had delivered presidential lectures on early Scottish art and architecture which were followed up by papers on Scottish Castles and Houses in May of 1883 and 1884. With these Ross helped: both partners had in fact been sketching in the course of their travels on business since the mid-1860s. These papers were well received and MacGibbon was encouraged to publish them. Out of these papers 'The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland' was born, gradually becoming a totally comprehensive survey of Scottish architecture prior to the Restoration.

The progress of its five volumes was, however, set back by a personal tragedy in July 1884. After Laggan was sold the MacGibbons holidayed at Kingussie, eventually taking a house at Tomdhu, Kincraig. While on holiday MacGibbon's twelve-year-old elder son William Peter was exploring sand-martins' nests in the banks of the River Spey with a manservant when an overhanging bank collapsed, burying him and his sister Rachel. William Peter did not survive; Rachel was dug out alive but her lungs were affected by sand and she was permanently deafened. Number 17 Learmonth Terrace was closed and the family moved to the Riviera to aid her recovery, leaving Ross in sole charge of the office for extended periods, during which he progressed the surveys for 'The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland' on his own as and when he could. Predictably MacGibbon put his time with his family on the Riviera to good use, sketching intensively from December 1884 to June 1885 with only short visits home, and again in the spring of 1886. The end result, 'The Architecture of the Riviera', was published in 1888, midway between volumes 1 and 2 of 'The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland'. Volumes 3, 4 and 5 followed in 1889-92 and 'The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland' in 1896-97. Although MacGibbon was a photographer, like Kinnear, for practical reasons all the illustrations were measured and drawn on the spot. Some of the visits were made while travelling on other business, but most were weekend work undertaken by train and bicycle, usually setting out on a Friday evening equipped with weekend bags, drawing boards and provisions brought to Waverley Station by their daughters; sometimes they travelled together, sometimes separately, depending on what had to be done.

Midway through the survey for 'The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland', MacGibbon again turned his attention to the continent, determined to combine the sketches he had made forty years earlier with those his surviving son Alfred Lightly MacGibbon (who was known as Fred) made on their study tours of northern France in the summer of 1895 and in the late summer and autumn of 1896 and in Belgium in August 1897. But at sixty-six the strain of this hectic activity at home and abroad brought on a serious heart condition. Although trial proofs were made, the book never appeared, probably because photography had begun to replace drawing material in high-class book production. Prolonged absence abroad also resulted in his accounts with the Merchant Company being in arrears, and the accumulated fees additional to his salary came as a shock to the Company when finally presented. The problem arose at least in part from over-generous arrangements renegotiated by Walter Wood Robertson some years earlier and although MacGibbon agreed an abatement in May 1898 the reputation of the practice with the Company was irreparably damaged.

In 1899 the Ayrshire and Galloway Archaeological Association published MacGibbon's last major writing, 'The Five Great Churches of Galloway', a by-product of 'The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland'; but when the University of St Andrews conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on him in April of that year he was too ill to attend. By March 1901 he was unable to attend the Merchant Company meetings and resigned as architect to the Company on the 21st. It was a personal appointment and did not pass to Ross although he too was a member of the Company. MacGibbon was thanked for his services but required to surrender all drawings relating to the Company and its trusts. On 20 February 1902 he died, survived by Jessie, his son Fred and his three daughters Isabella, Jessie and Rachel, the two first of whom were artists. None of the daughters married. MacGibbon left moveable estate of £22,688, a very substantial sum at the time although his total wealth was much less than it had been when he inherited from his father.

MacGibbon's interest in the practice passed to his son Fred. Born on 23 November 1874, he was educated privately, spending one year only at the Edinburgh Academy in 1890. He shared his father's antiquarian interests and the years 1891-93 were probably spent helping with his father's publications and learning to draw, his precocious studies of Iona being published in 'The Builder' in April 1893. It was not until 5 January 1894 that he was formally articled to his father's practice at the relatively late age of nineteen, probably because he had been helping with his father's books. In August 1894 he made a study tour of the principal cathedrals in England and he probably did most of the drawing on the study tours of France and Belgium in 1895-97, some of which he probably made on his own. By the time of the Belgian study tour he was in the office of Robert Rowand Anderson, his father's great friend and ally in his quarrels with the Royal Scottish Academy. He completed his articles with Anderson between 21 January 1896 and 27 February 1899. Throughout the period of his articles he studied under Professor Frank Worthington Simon at the School of Applied Art and at Heriot-Watt College, passing the qualifying exam on 16 November 1900, the year in which he made a study tour of Paris. He was admitted ARIBA on 18 February 1901, his proposers being his father's long-standing friend Penfold from Burn's office, with whom he may have spent some time before returning to Edinburgh, and Thomas Blashill and John Slater, all of London.

After his father died Fred moved out and took a bachelor flat at 4 India Street on the corner of Heriot Row c.1904. In 1906 he married Alice Christian Sainsbury of Isleworth, Middlesex and shortly thereafter took a house at 9 Lynedoch Place. The office remained at 65 Frederick Street where Fred was closely associated with Ross in everything he did.

As a result of MacGibbon & Ross's books, commissions flowed in for restoration work but few reached actual buildings, the biggest single disappointment being the Office of Works' refusal to sanction the restoration of the nave of Holyrood Abbey for which funds had been left by the Earl of Leven & Melville. Ross's younger son, James MacLaren Ross, born in 1878 and articled to the practice at the same time as Fred in 1894, moved to the office of Ralph Selden Wornum in London for wider experience in 1899, but in the event he remained there because of the steep decline in business at home.

In 1908 Ross was appointed a founder member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, and threw himself into its activities with enthusiasm, writing reports as if he were a salaried employee; and on 23 November 1910 the Commission appointed Fred MacGibbon, their architect, at a salary of £200 per annum for three quarters of his time, a measure of the degree to which the MacGibbon & Ross practice had declined. He was given the power to appoint at a salary of £150 a full-time draughtsman, George Patrick Houston Watson, whose association with the Commission was to last until his death in 1959. Fred's own association with the Commission was to be brief. In the summer of 1912 he became diabetic and in October 1914 he had to resign, Watson succeeding him on a full-time basis. He died at Tomdhu on 4 July 1915, survived by Alice who took their two sons David and Thomas Alfred and daughter Helen to her mother's home at Elgin House, Isleworth, Middlesex. Visits to Learmonth Terrace were remembered as somewhat difficult as Alice was 'very English' and her mother-in-law 'very Scottish' but the children enjoyed a good relationship with their unmarried aunts despite Isabella and Rachel's deafness.

Ross's last significant commission was the reconstruction of 3-11 Abbey Strand, where he restored the original roofline with a dormered attic in 1916. Thereafter he undertook only small jobs which interested him from his home in Saxe-Coburg Place. His main occupation continued to be Commission business and it was when studying Rossend Castle, Inverkeithing that he was arrested for sketching within a prohibited area in 1915 and fined five shillings at Cupar Sheriff Court in September. The University of Edinburgh conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1910 and in 1918 the Royal Scottish Academy made amends for its past treatment of MacGibbon by electing him Honorary Academician and Professor of Antiquities. He died at the age of ninety-one on 4 December 1930. His moveable estate amounted to £7,639.

Ross gave some of his drawings to the University of Aberdeen in his lifetime as a result of his interest in the work of Dr W Douglas Simpson. After his death his son James MacLaren Ross destroyed most of the practice papers but those relating to the books and to Commission business were given to the National Library. Fifty-three drawings relating to Edinburgh were given to Edinburgh Central Library. The drawings David and Fred MacGibbon had at home had entered the RIAS collection somewhat earlier in two tranches: some were given to Sir Rowand Anderson as a memento after David died in 1902 and the remainder were given by Rachel after her mother died on 25 July 1926 and the house at 23 Learmonth Terrace was sold and its contents dispersed.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 389, George Street, Edinburgh, ScotlandBusiness18721875(?) 
Item 2 of 392, George Street, Edinburgh, ScotlandBusiness18751890 
Item 3 of 365, Frederick Street, Edinburgh, ScotlandBusiness1890  

Employment and Training

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 9James Bellc. 1870 Assistant 
Item 2 of 9David MacGibbon1872February 1902Partner 
Item 3 of 9Thomas Ross1872October 1914Partner 
Item 4 of 9Robert Murray1878 * Assistant 
Item 5 of 9William Patterson18931897Apprentice 
Item 6 of 9Alfred Lightly MacGibbon5 January 18941896Apprentice 
Item 7 of 9David Alston BeveridgeJune 1894c. 1899Apprentice 
Item 8 of 9James MacLaren RossSeptember 1894May 1899Apprentice 
Item 9 of 9Alfred Lightly MacGibbonFebruary 1902October 1914Partner 

* earliest date known from documented sources.


Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 112187290-110 Lothian Road  EdinburghScotland 
Item 2 of 1121872Bruntsfield Crescent  EdinburghScotland 
Item 3 of 1121872Mansion in New Forest  HampshireEngland 
Item 4 of 1121872Morningside Free ChurchMorningside EdinburghScotland 
Item 5 of 1121872National Bank of Scotland, Aberdeen Union Street Branch  AberdeenScotlandAlterations
Item 6 of 1121873143-146 Princes Street  EdinburghScotlandOriginal hotel - radical reconstruction of existing houses with 'compo' façade
Item 7 of 1121873British Hotel and Hopetoun Rooms  EdinburghScotlandNew top floor added
Item 8 of 1121873George Watson's College  EdinburghScotlandHall
Item 9 of 1121873HillwoodCorstorphine EdinburghScotland 
Item 10 of 1121873National Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh West End  EdinburghScotlandUnspecified work
Item 11 of 1121873Trustee Savings BankDunfermline FifeScotlandMacGibbon may be responsible
Item 12 of 1121874Ashfield  EdinburghScotland 
Item 13 of 1121874Lodge to Ashfield  EdinburghScotland 
Item 14 of 1121875Layout of Orchardfield  EdinburghScotland 
Item 15 of 1121875Peebles Parish ChurchPeebles PeeblesshireScotlandProposed rebuilding (not carried out)
Item 16 of 1121875Tenement and shop, GrassmarketOld Town EdinburghScotlandPartly with John Lessels
Item 17 of 1121876AirlieAyr AyrshireScotlandPerhaps (Buildings of Scotland)
Item 18 of 1121876Carleton MainsLendalfoot AyrshireScotlandExtension
Item 19 of 1121876George Watson's Ladies College  EdinburghScotlandOriginal building
Item 20 of 1121876Great Western Hotel  EdinburghScotland 
Item 21 of 1121876Maitland Hotel  EdinburghScotland 
Item 22 of 1121876Ravelston Terrace and Ravelston Place  EdinburghScotland 
Item 23 of 1121876West ChurchFraserburgh AberdeenshireScotland 
Item 24 of 112c. 1876Old Racecourse HotelAyr AyrshireScotlandAttribution by Close
Item 25 of 11218771-20 Learmonth Terrace  EdinburghScotlandIn consultation with John Chesser, who specified design of façade
Item 26 of 1121877Dean Park CrescentDean EdinburghScotlandUnexecuted scheme
Item 27 of 1121877Granville Terrace  EdinburghScotland 
Item 28 of 1121877Houses, Upper Gilmore Place  EdinburghScotland 
Item 29 of 1121877Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital  EdinburghScotland 
Item 30 of 1121877Villa for Mr BlackwoodPeebles PeeblesshireScotland 
Item 31 of 1121878Kilravock LodgeGrange EdinburghScotland 
Item 32 of 1121878Mayfield Free ChurchMayfield EdinburghScotlandCompetition design - not successful
Item 33 of 1121878RedwoodMerchiston EdinburghScotlandStables
Item 34 of 112187992 George Street  EdinburghScotlandReconstruction as their own office
Item 35 of 1121879Caledonian Insurance Company  EdinburghScotlandReconstruction and enlargement of David Bryce building
Item 36 of 1121879City of Glasgow Bank  EdinburghScotlandConversion of original northern part of building to Merchant Company Offices with hall at rear
Item 37 of 1121879St Cuthbert's Parish Church Sunday School and hall  EdinburghScotland 
Item 38 of 1121879St Oswald Lodge  EdinburghScotland 
Item 39 of 1121879Villa, Polwarth Terrace  EdinburghScotlandDesign by Robert Murray, working as assistant
Item 40 of 112188121-24 Learmonth Terrace  EdinburghScotlandAdapted Chesser's designs
Item 41 of 1121882George Watson's College  EdinburghScotlandAdditions at both ends
Item 42 of 1121882RedwoodMerchiston EdinburghScotlandAdditions
Item 43 of 1121883James Gillespie's School  EdinburghScotlandAdditions
Item 44 of 1121883Tenement, Eildon Street and Inverleith RowInverleith EdinburghScotland 
Item 45 of 1121884Richmond Hotel  EdinburghScotland 
Item 46 of 1121885Gorebridge Free ChurchGorebridge MidlothianScotlandExtensive alterations - incorporating old church into transept
Item 47 of 1121886St Cuthbert's Parish Council Offices  EdinburghScotland 
Item 48 of 112188710-11 Thirlestane Lane Mews  EdinburghScotland 
Item 49 of 1121887129 Princes Street  EdinburghScotlandReconstruction
Item 50 of 112188732 Shandwick Place  EdinburghScotland 
Item 51 of 1121887Tenement, Danube Street and St Bernard's Crescent  EdinburghScotland 
Item 52 of 1121887Tenement, Perth Street  EdinburghScotland 
Item 53 of 1121888Library for Solicitors to the Supreme Courts of Scotland  EdinburghScotlandCompetition design (by invitation) - not successful
Item 54 of 1121888MansePeebles PeeblesshireScotland 
Item 55 of 1121888Old Rectory and TweedbraePeebles PeeblesshireScotlandReconstruction
Item 56 of 1121888Star Hotel  EdinburghScotlandAttic additions
Item 57 of 1121888Three tenement blocks, Royal Crescent  EdinburghScotlandModified Thomas Brown's original design
Item 58 of 1121889St Giles Cathedral  EdinburghScotlandMemorial chapel to Dr Chambers
Item 59 of 1121889St Giles Cathedral  EdinburghScotlandTracery in window of St John's Chapel
Item 60 of 1121889Tenement and shops, Morningside Road and Newbattle Terrace  EdinburghScotland 
Item 61 of 1121890Edinburgh Academy, laboratories  EdinburghScotland 
Item 62 of 1121890George Watson's Ladies College  EdinburghScotlandAbsorbed into larger building
Item 63 of 112c. 1890Prestonfield House  EdinburghScotlandAlterations
Item 64 of 1121891Inch HouseLiberton EdinburghScotlandRestoration and addition
Item 65 of 1121891James Gillespie's School  EdinburghScotlandNew top floor
Item 66 of 1121891St Giles Cathedral  EdinburghScotlandLadies' vestry in choir
Item 67 of 1121892Edinburgh Academy, Western Classrooms  EdinburghScotland 
Item 68 of 1121892George Watson's College  EdinburghScotlandFurther additions
Item 69 of 1121892Tenement for the North British Railway Company  EdinburghScotland 
Item 70 of 1121893Falconhall, wooden sports pavilion for George Watson's College  EdinburghScotland 
Item 71 of 1121893Lothian Road UP Church  EdinburghScotlandAlterations
Item 72 of 1121893Lothian Road UP Church Hall  EdinburghScotland 
Item 73 of 112c. 1893Villa, 42 Polwarth Terrace  EdinburghScotland 
Item 74 of 112c. 1893Villa, 50-52 Polwarth Terrace  EdinburghScotland 
Item 75 of 1121894Daniel Stewart's Hospital  EdinburghScotlandRoofing in of forecourt
Item 76 of 1121894Edinburgh Ladies College  EdinburghScotland 
Item 77 of 1121895The WhitehouseCramond EdinburghScotlandAlterations
Item 78 of 1121896Crosbie CastleWest Kilbride AyrshireScotland 
Item 79 of 1121896Kirkconnel Parish ChurchKirkconnel DumfriesshireScotlandReconstruction
Item 80 of 1121897Houses, 75-77 Colinton Road  EdinburghScotland 
Item 81 of 1121898Bangour Village AsylumUphall West LothianScotlandCompetition design for asylum - not successful, though was awarded a premium
Item 82 of 1121898Merchiston Gardens  EdinburghScotland 
Item 83 of 1121898Moffat Parish Church and hallMoffat DumfriesshireScotlandChurch hall (built by Starforth) extended
Item 84 of 1121899Haggs Castle  GlasgowScotlandMade schemes for additions but not executed
Item 85 of 112190015, 16 & 17 Spylaw Street  EdinburghScotland 
Item 86 of 1121900Beauly PrioryBeauly Inverness-shireScotlandRestoration
Item 87 of 1121900Forgandenny Parish ChurchForgandenny PerthshireScotlandProposed restoration - not executed (Paid off £72)
Item 88 of 1121900Prestonfield Church  EdinburghScotland 
Item 89 of 1121900Spylaw Street cottages  EdinburghScotlandReconstruction
Item 90 of 1121900Trustee Savings BankStockbridge EdinburghScotlandReconstruction
Item 91 of 112c. 1900VenlawPeebles PeeblesshireScotlandAddition of large tower house to south
Item 92 of 1121901CranleyColinton EdinburghScotlandReconstruction with new attic
Item 93 of 1121902Crianlarich United Free ChurchCrianlarich PerthshireScotland 
Item 94 of 1121902Iona Abbey IonaArgyllScotlandProposed restoration of choir, crossing & transepts - with John Honeyman
Item 95 of 1121902Kinross House and Home Farm  Kinross-shireScotlandRestoration of house and formal gardens, including fitting our of saloon. Stable court remodelled in late 17th century style from plain court of c.1780
Item 96 of 1121903Balavil HouseKingussie Inverness-shireScotlandRestoration of house and formal gardens
Item 97 of 1121905Kirkwall CathedralKirkwallMainlandOrkneyScotlandSurvey made prior to competition
Item 98 of 112c. 1905Kinross House and Home Farm  Kinross-shireScotlandTown gateway and lodges
Item 99 of 1121906Holyrood Abbey  EdinburghScotlandProposed restoration of nave
Item 100 of 1121907Restalrig Parish Church, King's Chapel and St Triduana's aisleRestalrig EdinburghScotlandRestoration
Item 101 of 1121907Scott Monument  EdinburghScotlandDesign exhibited for unspecified work - possibly improvements to setting
Item 102 of 112Before 19077 Eglinton Crescent, billiard room  EdinburghScotland 
Item 103 of 1121908Edinburgh Academy, laboratory lecture theatre  EdinburghScotland 
Item 104 of 1121908Free Church Offices and Savings Bank  EdinburghScotlandRepairs
Item 105 of 1121908Lady Glenorchy's Church and halls  EdinburghScotlandHalls and base of tower
Item 106 of 1121909Melrose Parish ChurchMelrose RoxburghshireScotlandCompetition design for reconstruction - not successful
Item 107 of 1121910City Churches, St Clement's Church and St Mary's Tower  DundeeScotlandProposed restoration of St Mary's crown and refacing of St Clement's - job taken over by Macgregor Chalmers but not carried out
Item 108 of 1121910Kailzie HouseTraquair/Kirkburn PeeblesshireScotlandAlterations
Item 109 of 1121911Carberry TowerInveresk, Musselburgh MidlothianScotlandPartial rebuilding (and restoration of sundial)
Item 110 of 1121911Church of the Holy RudeStirling StirlingshireScotlandRestoration of nave; also pulpit incorporating earlier parts. Removal of Gillespie Graham/s plaster vault.
Item 111 of 1121911Duart CastleCraignure (near)MullArgyllScotlandSketch scheme for restoration and reports. Also advised on Burnet scheme and it was this scheme which was executed
Item 112 of 1121912Peffermill House  EdinburghScotlandRestoration

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1Walker, David1984The Architecture of MacGibbon & Ross: The Background to the Books Breeze, David (ed.): 'Studies in Scottish Antiquity', Chapter 16, pp391-449 

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this :
 SourceArchive NameSource Catalogue No.Notes
Item 1 of 1Professor David M Walker personal archiveProfessor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material Personal recolllections of Elizabeth Hume Ross, retold by the late Stewart H Cruden and the late Dr David Ross;
personal recollections of Mrs Theodore Durrant, daughter of Ross's elder son, Dr Thomas Arthur Ross;
personal recollections of the late Dr Thomas Alfred MacGibbon, Thetford, Norfolk, son of Alfred Lightly MacGibbon;
personal recollections of David MacGibbon, Berlin, elder son of Alfred Lightly MacGibbon