Larger versions of these images are located at the foot of the page. Basic Biographical Details Name: | Margaret Brash Brodie (Miss) | Designation: | Architect | Born: | 10 June 1907 | Died: | 14 April 1997 | Bio Notes: | Miss Margaret Brash Brodie was born in Largs on 10 June 1907, one of the three daughters of John Brodie who was a civil engineer who specialised in railway company work and his wife Jane Brash. She attended Glasgow High School for Girls and was articled to Stewart & Paterson in 1925, studying at the Glasgow School of Architecture which she entered in 1926 as a student of the newly introduced BSc (Architecture) course which was conducted jointly with the University of Glasgow.
She travelled in England in 1928 and in France in 1929, was the first student to graduate from the BSc course with a First Class Honours in Design in 1931 and was awarded the Keppie Travelling Scholarship which enabled her to study at the British School at Rome where she met fellow students, William Holford, Robert Matthew and Basil Spence. She was still with Stewart & Paterson in late 1930 when she was admitted ARIBA, her proposers being Thomas Harold Hughes, John Watson and George Andrew Paterson.
After qualification she obtained a post with Watson Salmond & Gray and worked on the firm's design for the new Paisley Infectious Diseases Hospital. Her drawings for the hospital scheme were exhibited and brought her to the attention of Thomas Tait. In 1932 Tait offered her a post as assistant with Burnet Tait & Lorne in London, where she remained until 1938. She worked on the Glasgow Empire Exhibition for which she personally designed the Women of the Empire pavilion. Although devoted to Tait, incompatibility with Frances Lorne caused her to leave for Mewes & Davis in 1938.
The Second World War years were spent in East Anglia designing aerodromes for the Air Ministry. At the end of the war she returned to Burnet, Tait & Lorne, this time to their Edinburgh office where Francis Lorne was now the resident partner in charge. Again they proved incompatible and in 1949 she left to set up her own practice at Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, combining it with teaching at Glasgow School of Art (or the Royal Technical College according to the Glasgow Herald) where she was remembered as a demanding but not unkind teacher even if the irony in her commentaries could prove unnerving for the uninitiated. She had a notable competition success with the design for the new war memorial art school at Victoria College, Jersey in 1950, but she had no interest in running a large practice, preferring to undertake only what she could do herself. Here practice remained primarily ecclesiastical and domestic. She also acted as consultant to several engineering firms, the most important of which was Crouch & Hogg. She sat for some twenty years on the Church of Scotland's Advisory Committee on Artistic Questions and was appointed its convener in May 1974, the first woman to hold the post.
She retired in 1990, moving from Knowe's Mill, Lochwinnoch to Knockbuckle Cottage at Beith where she lived with her sister: although tall and extremely good-looking, even in old age, she never married. In 1995 she was created a Fellow of the Glasgow School of Art at a special graduation to mark the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the school.
Margaret Brash Brodie died in Beith on 14 April 1997.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this architect: | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 70, Oakfield Avenue, Hillhead, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1930 * | After 1950 | |  | Hillside, Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland | Private | 1955 * | | |  | Nervelstone, By Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland | Private | c. 1960 | After 1965 | |  | Knowes Mill, Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland | Private/business | c. 1970 | After 1984 | |  | Knockbuckle Cottage, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland | Private | 1990 | After 1994 | Address in retirement |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this architect: | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes |  | Bailey, Rebecca M | 1996 | Scottish architects' papers: a source book | | Edinburgh: The Rutland Press | p241 |  | http://www.heraldscotland.com | | http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12327431.Margaret_Brodie/ | | | |  | http://www.independent.co.uk | | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-margaret-brodie-1268627.html | | | |  | RIBA | 1950 | The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | |  | RIBA | 1955 | Kalendar 1954-1955 | | | |  | RIBA | 1960 | The RIBA Kalendar 1959-1960 | 1959-1960 | | |  | RIBA | 1964 | The RIBA Kalendar 1964-65 | | | |  | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | |  | RIBA | 1979 | Directory of members | | | |  | RIBA | 1984 | RIBA Directory of members | | | |  | RIBA | 1994 | A Directory of RIBA Members | | | |  | Scottish Women | 2006 | Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women | | EUP | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this architect: | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes |  | Glasgow Herald | 16 March 1951 | | | p3 |  | Glasgow Herald | 23 May 1974 | | | p13 |  | Glasgow Herald | 19 April 1997 | | | |  | Glasgow Herald | 19 April 1997 | | | Obituary by Neil Baxter |  | RIAS Newsletter | June 1997 | | | Obituary by Neil Baxter |  | Society of Architectural Historians of GB | 1997 | 61 | Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain newsletter | Obituary by Ann Colquhoun p6 |  | The Independent | 22 April 1997 | | | Obituary of Christopher Lee. |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this architect: | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes |  | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | A no4513 (combined box 19) |  | Strathclyde Regional Archives (Mitchell Library) | Strathclyde Regional Archives | | Drawings for 22 projects |
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