Basic Biographical Details Name: | Marjorie Kirsteen Borland (Mrs Holmes) | Designation: | | Born: | 5 January 1925 | Died: | | Bio Notes: | (Miss) Marjorie Kirsteen Borland was born on 5 January 1925 in Glasgow, the daughter of Harold Ernest Borland, chartered accountant and his wife Jean Nina Macdonald. She was educated at Westbourne School for Girls. She studied architecture in Glasgow and during her year out she worked on the Clyde Valley Regional Plan with Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Sir Robert Matthew, Sir Robert Grieve, Alan Reiach and others. After completing her degree in architecture, she studied town planning in London. She then took a post with London County Council. She married the Glasgow architect Jack Charles Holmes who had started his career working for the thread manufacturers J & P Coats. He established a practice on his own account in 1951 with an office at 93 Hope Street in Glasgow. In 1955 Borland was taken into partnership and the practice name became Jack Holmes & Partners. When their children were young, Borland worked part-time in the practice at home. She kept her maiden name for professional purposes. She was elected ARIAS in 1964.
During the later 1960s and 1970s she worked on development plans for town and county councils, the Highlands and Islands Development Board and the Scottish Office. She studied sites for platform construction for the Department of Energy and advised companies developing major industrial, airfield, housing and recreation projects in Scotland.
Following some years as convener of the RIAS Environmental Committee in 1977 Borland became the first woman to sit on the Council of the RIAS. [She understands that in fact she may have been the second as Professor Charles McKean discovered a woman had served on the Committee as early as the 1930s]. She was also elected the Convener of the Environment Committee of the GIA. In this post she was the representative on the Glasgow Crime Prevention Panel.
In the mid-1950s she became interested in social work. For five years she was secretary of the WVRS house for boys who had been in borstal and in June 1977 she retired from 12 years as visitor to HM Young Offenders Institute in Dumfries. She was a member of the Children's Panel Advisory Committee for Dunbartonshire.
Prior to 1986 she was part-time Reporter to the Scottish Office. From 1986-1996 she served on the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 43, Kirklee Road, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | c. 1948 | | | | 13, Porchester Place, London, England | Business(?) | c. 1953 | | | | Drumhead, Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland | Private | c. 1960 | After 2000 | | | 62, Kelvingrove Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1964 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Glendinning, Miles | 1997 | Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75 | | Tuckwell Press Ltd | p13 Clyde Valley Regional Plan p173 Anderston Cross CDA, Industrial Zone | | Glendinning, Miles | 2008 | Modern architect: the life and times of Robert Matthew | | RIBA Publishing | p71 | | Municipal Annual | 1964 | Scottish Municipal Annual | 1964-1965 | | | | RIBA | 1948 | The RIBA Kalendar 1948-1949 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | | | RIBA | 1954 | RIBA Kalendar 1953-54 | | | | | RIBA | 1961 | Kalendar 1960-61 | | | | | RIBA | 1964 | The RIBA Kalendar 1963-64 | | | | | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Glasgow Herald | 26 June 1977 | | | p8 |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Interview with Yvonne Hillyard, RIAS February 2014. | Information from M Kirsteen Borland | | | | National Archives (via Scotlands People) | Statutory births | | | | RIAS, Rutland Square | Records of membership | | |
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