Basic Biographical Details Name: | James Ferguson | Designation: | | Born: | 20 April 1910 | Died: | 14 January 2004 | Bio Notes: | James Ferguson was born on 20 April 1910, the son of David Ferguson, public house manager and his wife Mary Collier. He was articled to John Fraser of Dunfermline from 1926 to 1930, gaining varied experience working on housing, farm reconstruction, Miners' Welfare Institutes, new shops, alterations and reconditioning of property and surveying. During this period he attended classes at Heriot Watt College and Edinburgh College of Art.
In 1930 he took a position as chief assistant to William Williamson in Kirkcaldy, moving two years later to a similar post with Alfred Hugh Mottram. He left Mottram after a year to undertake some 'private work' but in 1934 became an assistant with Fife County Council. In 1936 he moved to Edinburgh to become an assistant with Alexander Murray Hardie whose death the following year terminated his employment. He then took a post with the City Architect's Department in Edinburgh where he remained for the following ten years.
In 1947 Ferguson entered the competition promoted by Edinburgh Corporation for the Inch housing development and was placed second. He may have been obliged to leave his post with the Department prior to entering as it was probably considered a conflict of interest for an employee to take part. Whatever the reason, in the same year, 1947, he moved to the Edinburgh office of the Ministry of Works where he remained for only a year. He then took a post with the National Coal Board, Scottish Division, Production Department. In 1951 he joined M Purdon Smith as chief assistant and became a partner in 1953. From the beginning of his employment with Purdon Smith one of his responsibilities was the design and construction of Dumfries and Galloway Board of Management hospitals.
He was elected LRIBA in 1956, his proposers being William Edward Hollins, John McLintock Bowie (whose name is deleted probably because he was unable to fulfill this request: he died in 1957), Frank Wood and James Alexander Roy McKee. The statement on the form is by Forbes Murison, Chief Architect to the Western Regional Hospital Board.
Ferguson left Purdon Smith in 1957. He was back in Edinburgh in the mid-1960s, and was a partner in the practice Ferguson, Marshall & Morison and was living in Craiglockhart Avenue and later West Castle Road. In the late 1990s he was living in Aberdour in Fife. After the death of his wife Blanche Stockdale McDonald in 1997 he went to live with his son at Stoneheap Farm, Stoneyburn, West Lothian.
Ferguson died at St John's Hospital, Livingston on 14 January 2004.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Stoneheap Farm, Stoneyburn , West Lothian, Scotland | Private | | 2004 | | | St Theresa's, Glasgow Road, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland | Private | 1950s | | | | 1, Wardie Avenue, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1953 | | | | 7B, West Castle Road, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1971 | | | | Aberdour, Fife, Scotland | Private | 1990s | | |
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Bailey, Rebecca M | 1996 | Scottish architects' papers: a source book | | Edinburgh: The Rutland Press | p107 | | RIBA | 1960 | The RIBA Kalendar 1959-1960 | 1959-1960 | | | | RIBA | 1964 | The RIBA Kalendar 1963-64 | | | | | RIBA | 1965 | The RIBA Kalendar | | | | | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | H M Register House | Death Register | | | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | L no6754 (Combined Box 158) |
|