Basic Biographical Details
| Name: | John Hall Nicol |
| Designation: | |
| Born: | c. 1875 |
| Died: | After 1949 |
| Bio Notes: | John Hall Nicol seems to have been born in Hamilton in 1875, the son of John Nicol, grocer, but had moved to work in Motherwell in the early years of the 20th century, and then to Harrogate. He has not yet been traced in Census records. His father (from a short obituary note in the Motherwell Times 22 July 1927) states that he Nicol senior was a native of Dunfermline, initially a weaver but moved to Lanarkshire where he opened a grocer's shop in New Stevenston. Hall junior was both building contractor and quarry master. He started building houses in Motherwell from about 1905. Some of these were built as speculation. There are numerous advertisements in the 'Motherwell Times' between 1905 and 1915 and after for house for sale built by Nicol. It may be possible to deduce his age and date of birth by the fact that he did not seem to have served in the First World War, at least at the beginning. In 1914 he gave evidence to a committee of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire about the state of housing and stated that he had generally fitted his houses with baths, although many, he discovered, were used for other purposes such as storing coal. He also gave evidence to a House of Commons inquiry into the need for improvements in housing construction. In the 1920s he also became business manager in Scotland for his famous fellow Hamiltonian, Sir Harry Lauder. Together Nicol and Lauder formed the Scotsman Car Company Ltd in 1921 which built in Wigton Street, Glasgow a range of three 4-cylinder Scotsman cars, funded by Sir Harry and designed by Nicol. Some cars were displayed at the Scottish Motor Exhibition of 1922 in the Kelvin Hall but were not put into general production. In 1923 Nicol wrote and produced a three act musical play, with Lauder's permission, based on the idioms of Sir Harry`s melodies and sketches. He seems to have written other scores and songs for Lauder. He acted as entrepreneur as well as building contractor as he was the proprietor of the Alhambra Theatre in Motherwell (opened 1912) as well as the contractor and fitted it out sumptuously. The advertisement which appeared alongside the report of the opening of the Central Hotel in Dundee which he designed and built in the 1920s records that he had completed contracts for 174 villas, 70 cottages, 614 tenements, 5 theatres and 3 hotels. He also 'designed for London Syndicates - theatres and Picture Houses at Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Odessa, Rio de Janeiro and Petrograd, and houses for an American Syndicate in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Red Deer Park. Nicol in recorded as travelling to Canada in 1930. He probably went on other occasions as well. The Central Hotel was one of three hotels constructed by Nicol's company, Rockvilla Hotel Ltd. The two others were in Glasgow, both called the Rockvilla Hotel, one located at Garscube Cross, the other at Port Dundas. The one at Port Dundas was a hostel for working men, a kind of step-up from a lodging house (Nicol had already designed a similar hostel in Falkirk). The other would seem to have been built or rebuilt in the later 1930s and had '200 modern rooms'. In 1938 an advertisement appeared which described it as a place where staff working at the Empire Exhibition could lodge. Nicol died after 1949. |
Private and Business Addresses
| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | |||||
| Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | |
 | Ardmohr, East Haddon Road, Dundee, Scotland | Private | 1920s | ||
| 29, Ward Road, Dundee, Scotland | Private | c. 1927 | Lived on the top floor above the hotel | |
| Rockvilla Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | c. 1930 | ||
Buildings and Designs
| This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | |||||||
| Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | |
| 1905 | Double villa, Crawford Street | Motherwell | Lanarkshire | Scotland | ||
| 1910 | Hostel | Falkirk | Stirlingshire | Scotland | ||
| 1912 | Cinema | Motherwell | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Would seem to have designed (or reconstructed)the theatre from an earlier building, the Alhambra. | |
| 1912 | Olympia Theatre of Varieties | Blantyre | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Conversion from music hall to cinema | |
| Before 1925 | Rockvilla Hotel | Port Dundas | Glasgow | Scotland | ||
| 1927 | Central Hotel | Dundee | Scotland | Was first proprietor and drew up plans for hotel. | ||
| Before 1938 | Rockvilla Hotel | Garscube Cross | Glasgow | Scotland | Reconstruction | |
References
Bibliographic References
| The following books contain references to this : | ||||||
| Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | |
| Gifford, John | 2012 | The Buildings of Scotland: Angus and Dundee | Yale | p140 | |
Periodical References
| The following periodicals contain references to this : | |||||
| Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | |
| Dundee Courier | 4 September 1928 | p1 | ||
| Dundee Courier | 22 October 1935 | p8 | ||
| Dundee Courier | 23 November 1935 | p5 | ||
| Dundee Evening Telegraph & Post | 19 November 1935 | p1 | ||
| Motherwell Times | 13 January 1905 | p2 | ||
| Motherwell Times | 9 June 1905 | p2 | ||
| Motherwell Times | 2 February 1906 | p2 | ||
| Scotsman | 30 January 1914 | p7 | ||
| Scotsman | 14 March 1928 | p14 | ||
Archive References
| The following archives hold material relating to this : | ||||
| Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | |
| Scottish Screen Archive | http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/resultsap.cfm?RID=&NID=50602&EID=&DID=&AID=230 | ||
| www.findmypast.co.uk | Travel & Emigration records | ||