Basic Biographical Details
| Name: | Baillie Scott & Beresford |
| Designation: | |
| Born: | 1919 |
| Died: | 1941 |
| Bio Notes: | Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott was born on 23 October 1865 at Beard's Hill, St Peter's, near Ramsgate in Kent, the eldest of the fourteen children of Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott Senior and his wife Martha Waters. His father was Scottish with extensive sheep farming interests in Australia and his mother was of Huguenot descent. The family subsequently moved to Worthing where Baillie Scott was sent to school with a view to going to Cambridge University, but in the event his father sent him to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester in October 1883 with the aim of sending him out to Australia to look after the family interests there. He graduated in December 1885 with honours in science and drawing, but during a spell in London arranging his passage he decided to become an architect rather than a farmer. He was articled to Major Charles E Davis of Bath from 1886 to 1889, in which year he married Florence Nash and made a wedding trip to the Isle of Man. There he found employment with a local surveyor Frederick Saunderson who was planning a large housing development at Onchan. This was never realised but from 1892 Baillie Scott established a significant domestic practice which received extensive coverage in 'The Studio' from 1895. These resulted in numerous commissions by mail from clients all over England and a significant number from continental clients. He moved his practice to Fenlake Manor, Bedford, in 1901, the year in which he won the Haus eines Kunstfreundes ('House for an Art Lover') competition, giving him a still wider European reputation for highly sophisticated arts and crafts houses. In 1905 the volume of business caused him to take on as assistant Arthur Edgar Beresford, born in 1881 near Alderley Edge, Cheshire, who had been articled to Massey Thompson in that town in 1895 and had remained with them as an assistant: according to Beresford's own account he was selected from a number of applicants because of his experience in restoring old houses. In 1906 Baillie Scott spread his fame still wider by publishing 'Houses and Gardens', in which he illustrated his best work and set out his ideas on house planning and design with a marked emphasis on function and materials: it was followed in 1910 by 'Garden Suburbs, Town Planning and Modern Architecture' with Raymond Unwin. The timing of the publications was fortunate as in 1911 all his practice records were destroyed in a fire at the Bedford office. In 1919 Baillie Scott re-established his practice in London in partnership with Beresford. Although to some degree modernised, his later houses remained faithful to the arts and crafts ideals and were the subject of a completely new and much larger 'Houses and Gardens' volume published in 1933. The London office of Baillie Scott and Beresford was destroyed in the Blitz in 1941, together with all the later practice records. Baillie Scott died at Brighton on 10 February 1945. |
Private and Business Addresses
| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | |||||
| Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | |
 | London, England | Business | |||
Employment and Training
Employees or Pupils
| The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
| Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott | 1919 | 1941 | Partner | |
| Arthur Edgar Beresford | 1919 | 1941 | Partner | |
References
Periodical References
| The following periodicals contain references to this : | |||||
| Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | |
| RIBA Journal | March 1945 | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p143 Obituary of Baillie Scott by Beresford | |