Architects

Name:

Andrew Robb Scott

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

15/05/1926

Year of Birth :

1851

Circa Year of Birth :

Date of Birth Before (Year):

Date of Birth After (Year):

DOB (1st 'Or' Year):

DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

05/03/1914

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

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Date of Death After (Year):

DOD (1st 'Or' Year):

DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

Town of Birth :

Bio Notes :

Andrew Robb Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1851, the son of Dairyman James Scott and Elizabeth Robb of Peebles. He was educated at the Royal High School and articled to David Bryce. In 1874 John Albert Rennison of Paisley took him into partnership, and in the following year they won the competition for the George A Clark Town Hall but did not receive the commission. The partnership was dissolved in 1884, apparently from want of business during the recession, but drink may have been a factor, together with Scott's inability to produce drawings when inspiration was lacking. William John Blain recorded that when the clerk of works at St James School could not get the necessary drawings he locked him in the office 'with two bottles of whisky for company'. Scott then accepted a post as a leading draughtsman with the Glasgow practice of Burnet Son & Campbell where he had a hand in Barony and Shawlands churches, for which he made a whole day study of Dunblane Cathedral, 'not sketching' but 'assimilating the principles of Gothic'. When his commitment to these was complete, he assisted Hippolyte Jean Blanc with the details of the Coats Memorial Church in Paisley. Around 1890 he was based in Westminster. He was premiated in the Victoria (British Columbia) Cathedral Competition of 1892 but did not receive the commission. He was, however, successful in another competition for a government building in Ottawa and spent a year or two there supervising its construction. It was probably lack of other business in Canada which induced him to return to join the Edinburgh architect William Hamilton Beattie as chief assistant to see the North British Station Hotel completed, both during Beattie's travels, and after his death on 29 November 1898. Scott then went into partnership with William Hamilton's younger brother and successor, George Lennox, with whom he designed most of the east side of North Bridge in a style markedly influenced by Burnet's competition design for the North British, but by 1904 the partnership had been broken, probably because of Scott's habits of business. Blain recorded that he 'only worked when inspired… [W]hen Scott began on a building he did no drawing at all for perhaps three or four weeks, then on a sudden he would start to draw and drawing after drawing would be turned out at a great pace and all pinned round him on the walls… [He] worked all night and turned out a remarkable number of drawings in incredibly short time.' The Beattie practice does not seem to have undertaken any significant work after the partnership was dissolved.

Scott later entered politics, standing for election for the Peebles seat in the General Election of November 1910, and coming second. He lived at Argyll Lodge, Peebles, which he appears to have inherited from his brother Captain William Boyd Scott of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and died at Rothesay, Bute on 3 May 1914, leaving heritable property of £253 8s 5d : James Robb Scott, the Southern Railway's in-house architect, was his son, born illegitimately in 1882 to him and the teenager Mary Fletcher, whom he married two years after the birth.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Notes
11 Salisbury Street Edinburgh Scotland	Private	Living with father and mother etc and described as an architectural draughtsman.
Glasgow Scotland	Private/business
13 Union Street Edinburgh Scotland	Private
Argyll Lodge Peebles Peeblesshire Scotland	Private
Rothesay, Bute Bute Scotland	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
7 Buchanan Terrace Paisley Renfrewshire Scotland	Business	1874	1884	Boarder at this address at least in 1881. Described as architect.
Glasgow Scotland	Private/business	1884
Ottawa Ontario Canada	Business	After 1890
Westminster London England	Business	c. 1890
199 Bruntsfield Place Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1896	c. 1897
Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1898
136 George Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1900	c. 1905	In Beattie's office
5 North Charlotte Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1904

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position
Rennison & Scott	202945	In year 1874	In year 1884	Partner
Burnet Son & Campbell	100125	In year 1884	c. 1886	Draughtsman
George Beattie & Son	100126	In year 1898	In year 1904	Partner
Francis George Fielden Hooper	204061	In year 1898	In year 1904	Partner
Hippolyte Jean Blanc	200031	c. 1887	c. 1890	Assistant
George Beattie & Son	100126	c. 1895	In year 1898	Chief Assistant
David Bryce	100014		Before 1874	Apprentice

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	Island	City or County	Country	Notes
St George's Church	In year 1874	Paisley		Renfrewshire	Scotland	Internal remodelling and addition of apse for organ chamber - presumably completed by Rennison after Scott left the partnership
George A Clark Town Hall	In year 1875	Paisley		Renfrewshire	Scotland	Won competition but job went to Lynn
High Church	In year 1876	Paisley		Renfrewshire	Scotland	Internal remodelling
Wellpark West Church	In year 1877	Greenock		Renfrewshire	Scotland
Glasgow Municipal Buildings	c. 1880			Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design entered under the pseudonym Apropos
Ferguslie School	In year 1881	Paisley		Renfrewshire	Scotland
Cartside House	In year 1881	Renfrew		Renfrewshire	Scotland
Good Templar Halls	In year 1881	Paisley		Renfrewshire	Scotland
Church of Scotland	In year 1881	Berwick-upon-Tweed		Northumberland	England	Interior - design exhibited
Dunselma	In year 1884	Strone		Argyll	Scotland
Established Church	In year 1885	Corrie	Arran	Bute	Scotland	Architect in charge of this project - as leading draughtsman with Burnet Son & Campbell.
Shawlands Parish Church	In year 1886	Shawlands		Glasgow	Scotland	Assisted with design as draughtsman for J A Campbell
Barony Parish Church	In year 1886			Glasgow	Scotland	Assisted with design - was the draughtsman in the office of Burnet Son & Campbell who drew out the project
Dunselma, boathouse	c. 1886	Strone		Argyll	Scotland
Dunselma, Lodge	c. 1886	Strone		Argyll	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Post Office Directories
Robertson, Una A	Carskey: a house and its people

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Scotsman		1910/11/02	*	p10 - election report
Scotsman		1914/05/06	*	Obituary

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Building Id	Item Name	Notes
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041			Recollections of William John Blain, given to Alfred G Lochhead, 10 December 1952; also information from Steven Robb, English Heritage, a relative. Also information from Neil Brown and from Steve Robb, HS regarding will.
Censuses	Census records online	201011

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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Archive References

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