Larger versions of these images are located at the foot of the page. Basic Biographical Details Name: | John Wilson | Designation: | Architect | Born: | 27 March 1877 | Died: | 20 January 1959 | Bio Notes: | John Wilson was born on 27 March 1877 and was articled to the School Board architect Robert Wilson - who may have been a relative - in 1892-98. (His RIBA obituary reverses the roles of John Wilson and George Washington Browne and says he was articled to Browne.) During that period he attended the Edinburgh School of Applied Art, studying under the Beaux-Arts-trained Frank Worthington Simon and Stewart Henbest Capper from whom he acquired a taste for French classicism. In or around 1899 he secured a travelling scholarship which enabled him to spend five months sketching and measuring in England. He then became an assistant in the office of John More Dick Peddie and George Washington Browne, rising to chief assistant in 1903. In the following year he went part-time to commence practice on his own account, and a School of Applied Art travelling studentship enabled him and James Anderson Arnott to undertake a measured study of the Petit Trianon at Versailles which he published as a folio in 1907: Wilson used to relate how he awoke from a lunch-time nap in the garden to see a lady in late-18th century costume leave the Trianon by one of the casement windows, only to realise that they had measured the window that morning and found it permanently fastened. Wilson returned to continue part-time for Peddie & Washington Browne and his profound knowledge of French classicism was probably a significant asset when Edinburgh College of Art was on the drawing board: some of the preliminary sketches made in 1907 may well have been his. From 1905, he was also an assistant teacher at the School of Applied Art.
The Peddie & Washington Browne partnership was dissolved in 1907 and after some two years as sole partner, John More Dick Peddie took into partnership James Forbes Smith (born 1876), who had been his assistant only slightly longer than Wilson. Wilson left in May 1910, resigning his post at the School of Applied Art and giving up private practice in order to become architect to the Local Government Board at 125 George Street. He was admitted LRIBA in the mass intake of 20 July 1911, proposed by James Bow Dunn and the Edinburgh Architectural Association, and became FRIBA in 1913 after only two years, his proposers being Alexander Lorne Campbell, Robert Stodart Lorimer and Robert Rowand Anderson. By that time he had spent four or five summers travelling in France and had ventured for a shorter period to Germany. In 1917 he was responsible for a special report on the design, construction and materials of small dwelling houses, and a report advocating the large-scale, government-backed building of garden suburbs for the working-classes and in 1921 he was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into the High Cost of Building Working Class Dwellings in Scotland, and in 1925 a member of the Moir Committee which investigated new methods of construction. Wilson was appointed Chief Architect to the Department of Health for Scotland in 1928.
From 15 August to 1 September 1934 at the instigation of the Secretary of State, Sir Godfrey Collins, Wilson and the Department's Permanent Secretary, John Highton, and the Depute Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow, Dr W G Clark, and Ebenezer MacRae, City Architect, visited recent housing schemes in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Prague Vienna and Paris which resulted in the report of the Departmental Committee on the Construction of Flats for the Working Classes. They found that while the space standards and servicing of Scottish local authority was generally better than on the continent, the houses they had seen paid more attention to the social and aesthetic aspects, comments which were also reflected in the parallel report of the Scottish Architecture Advisory Committee to the Department of which Wilson was also a member. These comments were reflected in the design of the more adventurous council estates over the next few years.
From 1936 Wilson was assisted by Robert Hogg Matthew. Wilson was also a specialist in hospital design, writing two works on the subject 'The Planning of Sanatoria Hospitals and Other Public Health Institutions' and 'Hospital Planning and Construction' for the authorities and institutions under his supervision, and a further work on 'Town Planning in Relation to Public Health'.
Wilson was admitted Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 6 March 1922. He was awarded the OBE in 1941 and retired in 1942. In later life Wilson was completely blind, 'an affliction which he bore with courage'. He died on 20 January 1959. A large collection of his personal and professional papers was acquired by RCAHMS in 1982. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this architect: | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 125, George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1910 | 1939 or after 1940 | Local Government Board offices |  | 76, Thirlestane Road, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | c. 1911 | | |  | 59, Murrayfield Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | c. 1912 | c. 1914 | |  | 20, Lomond Road, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1950 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA ProposersRIBA Proposals
Buildings and DesignsThis 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 |  | 1898 | Caledonian Hotel | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Formation of hotel over station, incorporating Kinnear & Peddie's Caledonian Station - as assistant to John More Dick Peddie |  | 1902 | North British and Mercantile Company building | | | Dublin | Eire | Had charge of construction - as assistant to Peddie & Washington Browne |  | Before 1903 | Scottish Provident Institution | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Had charge of construction - as senior assistant to Peddie & Washington Browne |  | 1905 | British Linen Bank | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Had charge of construction - as senior assistant to Peddie & Washington Browne |  | After 1905 | Inglewood | Morningside | | Edinburgh | Scotland | In independent practice (concurrently working part-time with John More Dick Peddie) |  | After 1905 | Torwood | Peebles | | Peeblesshire | Scotland | In independent practice (concurrently working part-time with John More Dick Peddie) |  | 1906 | Edinburgh Municipal Art College | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | As assistant to Peddie, may have contributed a lot to the design |  | 1907 | Edinburgh Life Assurance Company Building | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Completely new building - as senior assistant to John More Dick Peddie |  | 1909 | Melrose Parish Church | Melrose | | Roxburghshire | Scotland | Had charge of reconstruction - as senior assistant to John More Dick Peddie, who won competition to secure job |  | 1914 | County and Burgh of Inverness Infectious Diseases Hospital | Inverness | | Inverness-shire | Scotland | Acted as consultant for conversion to hospital |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this architect: | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes |  | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | |  | Glendinning, Miles | 2008 | Modern architect: the life and times of Robert Matthew | | RIBA Publishing | p54, 59, 66 |  | Post Office Directories | | | | | |  | RIBA | 1950 | The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | |  | Who's Who in Architecture | 1914 | | | | |  | Who's Who in Architecture | 1923 | | | | |  | Who's Who in Architecture | 1926 | | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this architect: | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes |  | RIBA Journal | July 1959 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | Obituary reprinted from Scotsman p334 |  | Scotsman | 23 January 1959 | | | Obituary |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this architect: | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes |  | Courtesy of Fiona Brockie | Information sent to Dictionary | | Sent February 2017.
Ms Brockie is researching the diaries of Mr. Wilson's wife, Evelyn, which were donated to the French Institute in Edinburgh (presumably at the same time as Wilson's papers were donated to the RACHMS, after the death of their daughter in 1982) |  | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | L v21 no1683; F v22 no1530 (microfilm reel 13) |
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