Basic Biographical Details Name: | Robert Watson | Designation: | | Born: | 1865 | Died: | February 1916 | Bio Notes: | Robert Watson was born in 1865. He attended classes at the Edinburgh Institution from 1877 to 1881 and although it was first proposed that he become an engineer, he inclined to architecture and was a pupil of Robert Paterson & Son in Edinburgh from October 1881. In 1884 he joined the office of Hippolyte Jean Blanc, where he remained until February 1887, passing the qualifying exam the following month. When working on some drawings of Dunblane Cathedral he came into contact with Hew Wardrop and Robert Rowand Anderson and thereafter worked in their office; Anderson later described him as 'efficient in every way & a zealous student of Architecture', before moving to London originally intending to stay briefly before emigrating to Canada. He found employment on the Exhibition Buildings at Earl’s Court, and then went to work for James Marjoribanks MacLaren. He was admitted ARIBA on 11 June 1888, his proposers being Anderson, John James Stevenson, and John McKean Brydon. He commenced independent practice in 1890 and in that year, together with William Dunn, succeeded to MacLaren's practice, entering into full partnership with Dunn. He was elevated to FRIBA on 5 December 1904, his proposers being Charles Edward Mallows, Francis William Bedford and Alfred William Stephens Cross.
Watson worked with Dunn ‘side by side in the same room on the same works, sometimes on the same drawings’. Broadly, Dunn was concerned with drawings being ‘clear and logical: building services were, however, also a particular Watson specialisation’. The practice was hugely successful and extended to ship interiors and commissions in South and East Africa with offices in Cape Town, Durban and East London. By about 1912 Dunn had decided to return to his 2,000 acre farm in Kenya. Watson discussed with William Curtis Green the possible merger of the practices on Dunn’s retirement, then scheduled for 1915, but in the event the war intervened and Watson became terminally ill. Dunn continued the practice with one assistant and Curtis Green was eventually taken into partnership in 1917.
Robert Watson died in February 1916. Dunn described him as having ‘an unstudied natural charm of manner that made friends at once wherever he went…his gentleness ‘disarmed opposition…he had in his younger days a love of music: he had a pleasing voice, delighting in singing songs of the North, playing his own accompaniments’.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 1, Scotland Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | c. 1877 | c. 1881 | | | 35, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC, England | Business | Before 1895 | After 1904 | | | 5, Ebury Street, Victoria, London SW, England | Private | 1904 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA ProposersRIBA ProposalsThis proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date proposed | Notes | | James Straton Ferrier | 29 November 1909 | for Associateship |
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Borland, Maureen | | D S MacColl: Painter, Poet, Art Critic | | Harpenden: Lennard Publishing | | | Calder, Alan | 2003 | James MacLaren: Arts and Crafts Pioneer | | Donington: Shaun Tyas | | | Calder, Alan | 2008 | Dunn & Watson : the Scottish Commissions | 6 | James M MacLaren Society Journal | | | Glendinning, M, MacInnes, R and MacKechnie, A | 1996 | A History of Scottish Architecture | | | | | Gray, A Stuart | 1985 | Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary | | | | | Who's Who in Architecture | 1914 | | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | RIBA Journal | 19 February 1916 | v23 | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | pp142-3 - obituary by William Dunn |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | British Architectural Library, RIBA | RIBA Biographical Files | | | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Drawings Collection | | | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | A v10 p32 (microfiche 40/B6); F v15 p67 (microfilm reel 11) |
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