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Basic Biographical Details
| Name: | David MacGibbon |
| Designation: | Architect |
| Born: | 2 April 1831 |
| Died: | 20 February 1902 |
| 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 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.' 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. In rthe late 1880s MacGibbon also found time to run the Edinburgh Architectural Association 'work-class'. His prize winners list included John Begg, Robert Lorimer and Victor Horsburgh. 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. 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 architect: | |||||
| Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | |
 | East Claremont Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | Late 1856 | Before 1858 | |
| 89, George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | Before 1858 | 1875(?) | |
| Edgehill, Dean, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1868 | 1874 | |
| Gurphur, Laggan, Ballantrae, Ayrshire, Scotland | Private | c. 1868 | May 1881 | |
| Ashfield/121, Grange Loan, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1874 | 1881 | |
| 92, George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1875 | 1890 | |
| 17, Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1881 | November 1886 | |
| 23, Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | November 1886 | ||
| 65, Frederick Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1890 | ||
Employment and Training
Employers
| The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this architect (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
| John Lessels | 1849 | 1851 | Apprentice | |
| William Burn | 1851 | 1855 | Assistant | |
| MacGibbon & Ross | 1872 | February 1902 | Partner | |
Employees or Pupils
| The following individuals were employed or trained by this architect (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
| Thomas Ross | 1862 | 1872 | Assistant | |
Buildings and Designs
| This architect 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 | |
| 1857 | Crimean Monument | Sheffield | Yorkshire | England | Competition design - unplaced | |
| 1858 | Blackford Parish Church | Blackford | Perthshire | Scotland | 'Buildings of Scotland' gives MacGibbon as architect - conflicts with other information | |
| 1860 | Biggar Corn Exchange | Biggar | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| 1860 | Cormiston Towers | Biggar | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| 1861 | National Bank of Scotland, Alloa Branch | Alloa | Clackmannanshire | Scotland | ||
| 1861 | National Bank of Scotland, Forfar Branch | Forfar | Angus | Scotland | ||
| 1861 | New Royal Alhambra Theatre | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| c. 1861 | Seatower | Ayr | Ayrshire | Scotland | Attribution on detail | |
| c. 1861 | Two double villas, Bruntsfield Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1862 | 1-4 Inverleith Row | Inverleith | Edinburgh | Scotland | ||
| 1862 | 37-65 Lothian Road | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1862 | Barclay Church | Bruntsfield | Edinburgh | Scotland | Third place | |
| 1862 | Meadowside House | Edinburgh | Scotland | Conversion from villa to children's hospital | ||
| 1862 | National Bank of Scotland, Dunfermline Branch | Dunfermline | Fife | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1862 | National Bank of Scotland, Falkirk Branch | Falkirk | Stirlingshire | Scotland | ||
| 1862 | National Bank of Scotland, Girvan Branch | Girvan | Ayrshire | Scotland | ||
| 1862 | Town Hall | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1863 | 71-103 Lothian Road | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1863 | National Bank of Scotland | Stromness | Mainland | Orkney | Scotland | |
| 1863 | National Bank of Scotland, Kilmarnock Branch | Kilmarnock | Ayrshire | Scotland | Reported on alterations and improvements | |
| 1863 | National Bank of Scotland, Kirriemuir Branch | Kirriemuir | Angus | Scotland | Alterations and improvements | |
| 1864 | 21-31 Colinton Road | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1864 | Minden House | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | Remodelling | |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Cupar Branch | Cupar | Fife | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Elie Branch | Elie | Fife | Scotland | Alterations and additions | |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Islay Branch | Islay | Argyll | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Montrose Branch | Montrose | Angus | Scotland | Reconstruction of existing building with completely new elevation | |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Portree Branch | Portree | Skye | Inverness-shire | Scotland | Recommended repairs |
| 1864 | National Bank of Scotland, Selkirk Branch | Selkirk | Selkirkshire | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1864 | Rachan Cottages | Biggar | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| 1865 | Queen's Theatre | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1866 | Buccleuch Parish Church and halls | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction | ||
| 1866 | National Bank of Scotland, Berwick-upon-Tweed Branch | Berwick-upon-Tweed | Northumberland | England | Alterations | |
| 1866 | National Bank of Scotland, Forres Branch | Forres | Morayshire | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1866 | National Bank of Scotland, Kelso Branch | Kelso | Roxburghshire | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1866 | National Bank of Scotland, Stornoway Branch | Stornoway | Lewis | Ross and Cromarty | Scotland | |
| 1867 | National Bank of Scotland Head Office (Former) | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations providing additional accommodation for secretary and officials | ||
| 1867 | National Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh West End | Edinburgh | Scotland | Inspected premises for purchase | ||
| 1867 | Royal Hotel and cinema | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction | ||
| 1868 | 12 Morningside Road | Morningside | Edinburgh | Scotland | Design based on Rhind's scheme | |
| 1868 | Merchiston Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1868 | National Bank of Scotland, Banff | Banff | Banffshire | Scotland | Unexecuted plan for new premises; perhaps designed alterations | |
| c. 1868 | Gurphur | Ballantrae | Ayrshire | Scotland | Original house for himself | |
| 1869 | Glengyle Terrace, Leven Terrace, Valleyfield Street and 8-12 Leven Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1869 | National Bank of Scotland, Biggar Branch | Biggar | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Alterations? | |
| 1869 | National Bank of Scotland, Grantown Branch | Grantown-on-Spey | Morayshire | Scotland | Additions and alterations | |
| 1869 | Tenement, Lauriston Place corner | Edinburgh | Scotland | Revision of Thornton Shiells work | ||
| 1869 | Tenements, Glen Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | Revised design for superior | ||
| 1870 | 25-31 Eyre Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1870 | Bruntsfield Crescent | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1870 | Edinburgh Ladies' College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction of existing houses for the Merchant Company | ||
| 1870 | Tenements, Gillespie Crescent | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1872 | 90-110 Lothian Road | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1872 | Mansion in New Forest | Hampshire | England | |||
| 1872 | Morningside Free Church | Morningside | Edinburgh | Scotland | ||
| 1872 | National Bank of Scotland, Aberdeen Union Street Branch | Aberdeen | Scotland | Alterations | ||
| 1873 | 143-146 Princes Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | Original hotel - radical reconstruction of existing houses with 'compo' façade | ||
| 1873 | British Hotel and Hopetoun Rooms | Edinburgh | Scotland | New top floor added | ||
| 1873 | George Watson's College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Hall | ||
| 1873 | Hillwood | Corstorphine | Edinburgh | Scotland | ||
| 1873 | National Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh West End | Edinburgh | Scotland | Unspecified work | ||
| 1873 | Trustee Savings Bank | Dunfermline | Fife | Scotland | May be responsible | |
| 1874 | Ashfield | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1874 | Lodge to Ashfield | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1875 | Layout of Orchardfield | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1875 | Peebles Parish Church | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | Proposed rebuilding (not carried out) | |
| 1875 | Tenement and shop, Grassmarket | Old Town | Edinburgh | Scotland | Partly with John Lessels | |
| 1876 | Airlie | Ayr | Ayrshire | Scotland | Perhaps (Buildings of Scotland) | |
| 1876 | Carleton Mains | Lendalfoot | Ayrshire | Scotland | Extension | |
| 1876 | George Watson's Ladies College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Original building | ||
| 1876 | Great Western Hotel | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1876 | Maitland Hotel | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1876 | Ravelston Terrace and Ravelston Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1876 | West Church | Fraserburgh | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | ||
| c. 1876 | Old Racecourse Hotel | Ayr | Ayrshire | Scotland | Attribution by Close | |
| 1877 | 1-20 Learmonth Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | In consultation with John Chesser, who specified design of façade | ||
| 1877 | Dean Park Crescent | Dean | Edinburgh | Scotland | Unexecuted scheme | |
| 1877 | Granville Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1877 | Houses, Upper Gilmore Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1877 | Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1877 | Villa for Mr Blackwood | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | ||
| 1878 | Kilravock Lodge | Grange | Edinburgh | Scotland | ||
| 1878 | Mayfield Free Church | Mayfield | Edinburgh | Scotland | Competition design - not successful | |
| 1878 | Redwood | Merchiston | Edinburgh | Scotland | Stables | |
| 1879 | 92 George Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction as their own office | ||
| 1879 | Caledonian Insurance Company | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction and enlargement of David Bryce building | ||
| 1879 | City of Glasgow Bank | Edinburgh | Scotland | Conversion of original northern part of building to Merchant Company Offices with hall at rear | ||
| 1879 | St Cuthbert's Parish Church Sunday School and hall | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1879 | St Oswald Lodge | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1879 | Villa, Polwarth Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | Design by Robert Murray, working as assistant | ||
| 1881 | 21-24 Learmonth Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | Adapted Chesser's designs | ||
| 1882 | George Watson's College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Additions at both ends | ||
| 1882 | Redwood | Merchiston | Edinburgh | Scotland | Additions to house | |
| 1883 | James Gillespie's School | Edinburgh | Scotland | Additions | ||
| 1883 | Tenement, Eildon Street and Inverleith Row | Inverleith | Edinburgh | Scotland | ||
| 1884 | Richmond Hotel | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1885 | Gorebridge Free Church | Gorebridge | Midlothian | Scotland | Extensive alterations - incorporating old church into transept | |
| 1886 | St Cuthbert's Parish Council Offices | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1887 | 10-11 Thirlestane Lane Mews | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1887 | 129 Princes Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction | ||
| 1887 | 32 Shandwick Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1887 | Tenement, Danube Street and St Bernard's Crescent | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1887 | Tenement, Perth Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1888 | Library for Solicitors to the Supreme Courts of Scotland | Edinburgh | Scotland | Competition design (by invitation) - not successful | ||
| 1888 | Manse | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | ||
| 1888 | Old Rectory and Tweedbrae | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | Reconstruction | |
| 1888 | Star Hotel | Edinburgh | Scotland | Attic additions | ||
| 1888 | Three tenement blocks, Royal Crescent | Edinburgh | Scotland | Modified Thomas Brown's original design | ||
| 1889 | St Giles Cathedral | Edinburgh | Scotland | Memorial chapel to Dr Chambers | ||
| 1889 | St Giles Cathedral | Edinburgh | Scotland | Tracery in window of St John's Chapel | ||
| 1889 | Tenement and shops, Morningside Road and Newbattle Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1890 | Edinburgh Academy, laboratories | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1890 | George Watson's Ladies College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Absorbed into larger building | ||
| c. 1890 | Prestonfield House | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | ||
| 1891 | Ballantrae Parish Church | Ballantrae | Ayrshire | Scotland | Addition of clock turret with gables, finials and a tiny fleche | |
| 1891 | Inch House | Liberton | Edinburgh | Scotland | Restoration and addition | |
| 1891 | James Gillespie's School | Edinburgh | Scotland | New top floor | ||
| 1891 | St Giles Cathedral | Edinburgh | Scotland | Ladies' vestry in choir | ||
| 1892 | Edinburgh Academy, Western Classrooms | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1892 | George Watson's College | Edinburgh | Scotland | Further additions | ||
| 1892 | Tenement for the North British Railway Company | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1893 | Falconhall, wooden sports pavilion for George Watson's College | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1893 | Lothian Road UP Church | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | ||
| 1893 | Lothian Road UP Church Hall | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| c. 1893 | Villa, 42 Polwarth Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| c. 1893 | Villa, 50-52 Polwarth Terrace | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1894 | Daniel Stewart's Hospital | Edinburgh | Scotland | Roofing in of forecourt | ||
| 1894 | Edinburgh Ladies College | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1895 | The Whitehouse | Cramond | Edinburgh | Scotland | Alterations | |
| 1896 | Crosbie Castle | West Kilbride | Ayrshire | Scotland | ||
| 1896 | Kirkconnel Parish Church | Kirkconnel | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Reconstruction | |
| After 1896 | Eddleston Parish Church | Eddleston | Peeblesshire | Scotland | Reconstruction after fire | |
| 1897 | Houses, 75-77 Colinton Road | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1898 | Merchiston Gardens | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1898 | Moffat Parish Church and hall | Moffat | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Church hall (built by Starforth) extended | |
| 1899 | Haggs Castle | Glasgow | Scotland | Made schemes for additions but not executed | ||
| 1900 | 15, 16 & 17 Spylaw Street | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1900 | Forgandenny Parish Church | Forgandenny | Perthshire | Scotland | Proposed restoration - not executed (Paid off £72) | |
| 1900 | Prestonfield Church | Edinburgh | Scotland | |||
| 1900 | Spylaw Street cottages | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction | ||
| 1900 | Trustee Savings Bank | Stockbridge | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction | |
| c. 1900 | Venlaw | Peebles | Peeblesshire | Scotland | Addition of large tower house to south | |
| 1901 | Cranley | Colinton | Edinburgh | Scotland | Reconstruction with new attic | |
| 1902 | Iona Abbey | Iona | Argyll | Scotland | Restoration of choir, crossing & transepts - with John Honeyman | |
| Before 1902(?) | 7 Eglinton Crescent, billiard room | Edinburgh | Scotland | Date uncertain - may have been after Macgibbon's death | ||
| Before 1907 | Scott Monument | Edinburgh | Scotland | Design for unspecified work - possibly improvements to setting; date of design not known, may have been after Macgibbon's death | ||
References
Bibliographic References
| The following books contain references to this architect: | ||||||
| Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | |
| Architects Engineers and Building Trades Directory | 1868 | Architect's, Engineer's and Building Trades' Directory | London, Wyman | ||
| British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | |||
| Eddington, A | 1904 | Contemporary Biographies | Edinburgh and the Lothians | WT Pike and Co., Pike's New Century Series, no. 12 | p324 |
| Grierson, J M, Sir | 1909 | Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force | |||
| Love, J | 1928 | Local Antiquarian Notes and Queries | Falkirk: Falkirk Library | ||
| Pride, Glen L | 1999 | The Kingdom of Fife | 2nd Edition | The Rutland Press | p14, p167 |
| Walker, David | 1984 | The Architecture of MacGibbon & Ross: The Background to the Books | Breeze, David (ed.): 'Studies in Scottish Antiquity', Chapter 16, pp391-449 | ||
Periodical References
| The following periodicals contain references to this architect: | |||||
| Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | |
| British Architect | 28 February 1902 | p146 -Obituary | ||
| Builder | 8 March 1902 | Obituary | ||
| Scotsman | 30 July 1884 | Obituary of his son William Peter MacGibbon | ||
| Scotsman | 21 February 1902 | Obituary | ||
Archive References
| The following archives hold material relating to this architect: | ||||
| Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | |
| Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor 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; of Mrs Theodore Durrant, Thomas Ross's granddaughter; of the late Dr Thomas Alfred MacGibbon, Thetford, Norfolk, son of Alfred Lightly MacGibbon; and of David MacGibbon, Berlin, elder son of Alfred Lightly MacGibbon. Letters of Richard Norman Shaw to his mother per Professor Andrew Saint | |
Images
© All rights reserved. Edinburgh Architectural Association 1907 Exhibition Catalogue
© All rights reserved. Edinburgh and the Lothians at the opening of the twentieth century / by A. Eddington. Contemporary biographies / edited by W.T. Pike