Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Archibald Stuart Soutar | | Designation: | | | Born: | 25 May 1879 | | Died: | 26 December 1951 | | Bio Notes: | Archibald Stuart Soutar was born on 25 May 1879, the second son of James Soutar, draper, Arbroath and was educated at Arbroath High School. He was articled to John Murray Robertson in Dundee for four years from May 1895, remaining with Robertson's successor James Findlay as assistant after the former's sudden death in January 1901. During that period he took classes at University College and Dundee Technical College, the latter under Patrick Hill Thoms, and won the Queen's Prize. He left Findlay's office in September 1901 and moved to London where he joined the LCC Architects Department, working under William Edward Riley. He was admitted LRIBA on 20 March 1911, along with his younger brother John Carrick Stuart Soutar (born 1881), who had joined the LCC Architects Department with him in 1901 straight from an apprenticeship with Thomas Martin Cappon, and who had worked with him on several successful competition designs. Riley and Arthur Alfred Carder and James Maxwell Scott, also of the LCC Architects Department, acted as proposers for both brothers. Archibald Stuart Soutar was awarded an RIBA Distinction in Town Planning.
The catalyst for the brothers commencing independent practice was their competition win for the layout of Ruislip Manor Estate owned by King’s College Cambridge, followed by their appointment as consulting architects to Ruislip Manor Ltd. The assessor was Raymond Unwin to whom they were probably indebted for commissions at Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1913-14. In December 1914 Unwin was appointed to the Local Government Board, his role as consultant architect at Hampstead being taken over by George Lister Sutcliffe. In January 1915 John Carrick Stuart Soutar was also appointed a consultant architect and, after Sutcliffe became seriously ill in the Spring of the same year and died on 12 September, Soutar became sole architect to the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, the practice now having a main office at King William Street Strand for general practice and another at The Wylde, Hampstead for Hampstead Garden Suburb business. The brothers were also architects for the Knebworth Garden Village development but it never generated commissions for actual houses on the same scale as Hampstead. Their architecture was mainly in a late Stuart idiom, influenced by both Riley and Lutyens, the latter having a continuing role at Hampstead.
From 1920 until about 1928 the Soutars’ chief assistant was Paul Bradock who seems to have had a design role in some Hampstead developments and was allowed to have a small private practice of his own. About 1929 his role was taken over by William Powell who remained with the practice until at least 1939.
Archibald designed a wide range of buildings including blocks of flats, houses, offices, showrooms, workshops, garages and preparatory schools as well as church army housing. TArchibald retired c.1941. He was unmarried and returned to his native Arbroath to live with his elder brother and sister at Bracklinn, 12 Salisbury Place. He died in a Dundee nursing home on 26 December 1951, leaving estate of £8262 6s 2d; John had died earlier in the same year on 27 February. | Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 37, Westover Road, Wandsworth, London, England | Private | 1911 * | | With his brother, John Carrick Stuart Soutar | | 8, King William IV Street, The Strand, Strand, London, England | Business | 1912 | After 1926 | | | Bracklinn/12, Salisbury Place, Arbroath, Angus, Scotland | Private | 1941 | c. 1951 | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Miller, Mervyn | 2006 | Hampstead Garden Suburb: Arts and Crafts Utopia? | | Phillimore, Chichester | | | Miller, Mervyn and Gray, A Stuart | 1992 | Hampstead Garden Suburb | | Phillimore, Chichester | | | Who's Who in Architecture | 1914 | | | | |
Periodical References| The following periodicals contain references to this : | | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Arbroath Herald and Advertiser for the Montrose Bu | 28 December 1951 | | | Obituary | | Dundee Courier and Advertiser | 4 January 1952 | v182 | | p24 - obituary - CHECK for further info | | RIBA Journal | June 1952 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p306 Obituary |
Archive References| The 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 Nomination Papers | | L v14 no924 |
|