Basic Biographical Details

Name: David McLeod Craik
Designation:  
Born: 1873
Died:  
Bio Notes: David McLeod Craik was born in 1873 in Neath, Glamorganshire, the son of Robert Craik, travelling draper, who has been born in Scotland and his Welsh wife Kate. He was articled to Alfred Bucknall and Edward William Jennings of Swansea 1889-93, but thereafter his experience was predominantly Scottish as assistant to Clarke & Bell and Thomas Lennox Watson in Glasgow and to William Hamilton Beattie in Edinburgh all in 1894-6. Thereafter he moved to the office of Robert Graeme Watt and Frederick Henry Tullock in Belfast from which he found employment with John McKean Brydon on the new government offices in Whitehall in 1898, remaining with him until March in 1900 when he passed the qualifying exam and was admitted ARIBA, his proposers being Brydon, Watson and Cole Alfred Adams.

Thereafter he was a senior assistant with Edward Augustus Grunning until 1902 when he obtained a post with the Singapore municipality, probably on the strength of his experience with Brydon. He commenced practice on his own account in Singapore in 1907, merging his practice with that of Swan & Maclaren in 1913. ___Swan and J W B MacLaren were engineers and chartered surveyors rather than architects and had established a practice in the 1880s. They became the 'leading exponents of their profession' in SE Asia, having offices in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Penang. The other partners were H Robinson who lived at Singapore and H C Atkin-Berry who lived at Kuala Lumpur.

Craik was admitted FRIBA on 12 January 1914. After the war Craik opened the Penang office of Swan & Maclaren and was there after the dissolution of the partnership in 1928.

Craik's principal works were St Joseph's Church, Fort Canning Street, 1909 and the Rubber Broker's Arcade, 1910, remodelled in a Saracenic idiom by Craik in 1920.



Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 4Singapore, SingaporeBusiness1902After 1928 
Item 2 of 43, De Souza Street, SingaporeBusiness1907  
Item 3 of 46, The Arcade, SingaporeBusiness(?)1913  
Item 4 of 4Georgetown Chambers, Penang, MalaysiaBusiness1937 *  

* earliest date known from documented sources.


Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 6Clarke & Bell18941894Assistant 
Item 2 of 6Thomas Lennox Watson18941894Assistant 
Item 3 of 6George Beattie & Son18941896Assistant 
Item 4 of 6John McKean Brydon18981900Assistant 
Item 5 of 6Edward Augustus Gruning19001902Assistant 
Item 6 of 6Swan & Maclaren1907 Senior AssistantSupervisor of the Penang office. Later partner?

RIBA

RIBA Proposals

This proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 2Joseph Charles Miller7 February 1938for Fellowship
Item 2 of 2Oliver Frederick SavegeEarly 1929for Fellowship

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 2Beamish, Jane and Ferguson, Jane1985A History of Singapore Architecture Singaporepp93-95, 135
Item 2 of 2MacMillan, Allister (comp.and ed.)1923Seaports of the Far East London: W H & L Collingridgep305

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1Penang Gazette5 July 1935  Craik still alive at this date.