Architects

Name:

Burn & Bryce

Designation :

Architectural practice

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

05/07/1926

Year of Birth :

1844

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:

OR (2 Years Selected)

Exact DOD:

05/07/1926

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

Date of Death Before (Year):

Date of Death After (Year):

DOD (1st 'Or' Year):

1849

DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

1850

Town of Birth :

Bio Notes :

The partnership of William Burn and David Bryce was a legal entity from 1844 to July 1850 although in design terms it had begun much earlier and had effectively ended in 1849. It was managed by David Bryce from what had been William Burn's house and office at 131 George Street, Edinburgh and was confined to Scotland, Burn's London practice at 6 Stratton Street, Piccadilly being conducted in his name only. The practice differed in that the Edinburgh Burn and Bryce office continued Burn's pre-1844 general practice, whereas Burn's London office accepted commissions only for country houses, related estate work, gentleman's clubs and business arising from his Office of Works role as consulting architect to the Government of Scotland following the retirement of Edward Blore in 1849.

David Bryce's connection with Burn began with the death of his older brother William on 5 December 1823. William was one of Burn's senior clerks and David was given his post to help provide for his widow and three young children. By at least 1829 Bryce was Burn's chief clerk: he had been allowed to continue conducting his brother's architectural academy from his house in Hermitage Place, Stockbridge and from about 1828 was allowed to have a small independent practice, mainly small parish buildings with which Burn did not want to be troubled. But in April 1829 Bryce received and accepted the commission for a small country house at Newton Hall at Kennoway in Fife and his private practice, in the early 1830s based at Great Stuart Street and from 1835 at 53 Castle Street, grew steadily throughout the 1830s, mainly with church, manse and school work. In parallel Bryce became increasingly important to Burn's practice through his mastery of neo-Mannerist, neo-Baroque and Scottish Jacobean detail.

But by 1839-1840 Bryce had received commissions for several Edinburgh insurance offices and for the Edinburgh & Leith Bank's head office, buildings too prominent to be consistent with the position as Burn's chief clerk. Matters came to a head in March 1841 when Bryce not unreasonably sought full membership of the Institute of architects in Scotland which Burn had founded in the previous year. His application was unfavourably received as he was still regarded as an employee rather than a principal by the other members of the committee. Burn then formally proposed him as a Fellow at the beginning of May, but as his admission was still opposed by the committee, Burn resigned from the Institute on the 15th, bringing about the collapse of the Institute.

The reason why Burn and Bryce ultimately merged their practices were, however, more because of practical considerations. In 1839-44 Burn had an altogether exceptional number of major commissions on his hands which were geographically widely spread from Ross and Cromarty in the north to Lincolnshire in the south and across the Irish Sea to Muckross and Dartrey. Early in 1844 he had a short breakdown in health similar to that which afflicted him for a longer period in 1824 and later in that same year he moved house to 6 Stratton Street, Piccadilly, London as a more convenient address from which to deal with his English and Irish clients and his grander Scottish ones during the winter season. No copy of the partnership agreement has been found, but it appears to have been provided for Bryce still managing all Scottish business from Burn's house and office at 131 George Street into which Bryce then moved.

Within a year the partnership became strained as a result of problems with the slating of the Duke of Buccleuch's Episcopal chapel at Dalkeith where the Ducchess's enmity made Burn particularly sensitive of his reputation. Bryce's friendship with Robert William Billings, whose publishing partnership with Burn ended acrimoniously in October 1848, and his feud with the Free Church faction in Edinburgh's Town Council over the rebuilding of Trinity College Church, probably did not help matters but the primary cause of the break-up of the partnership was Bryce's increasing habit of dealing directly with most of the Scottish clients and designing their houses without much reference to Burn in London. Burn's acceptance of the commission for Poltalloch which was both designed and supervised from Stratton Street, probably marked the final breaking point. At the time the break suited the interests of both partners. Bryce's Edinburgh practice was by then busier than Burn's in London and he no longer needed Burn to introduce business; and Burn was by then relatively short of commissions for completely new houses and Scottish business was again welcome. The partnership was formally dissolved shortly before 11 July 1850 when Burn wrote to the published John Blackwood: 'I have closed my partnership with Bryce it being utterly impossible to go on with him'.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

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

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
131 George Street Edinburgh Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
131 George Street Edinburgh Scotland	Private/business	1844		1849 or 1850

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

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
John Starforth	200348	After 1844		Assistant	Starforth is believed to have remained in the practice after his apprenticeship
David Bryce	100014	In year 1844	In year 1849	Partner
William Burn	200136	In year 1844	In year 1849	Senior Partner
John Starforth	200348	In year 1844		Apprentice	Exact dates unkown
James Campbell Walker	200760	In year 1844	In year 1849	Assistant	Initially still an apprentice
Charles George Hood Kinnear	201474	In year 1849	In year 1850	Apprentice
Andrew Heiton (junior)	201086	c. 1844	c. 1848	Assistant

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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	City or County	Country	Notes
Roslin Chapel	In year 1837	Roslin/Rosslyn	Midlothian	Scotland	Supervised repairs
Ladykirk House	In year 1843	Ladykirk	Berwickshire	Scotland	Minor alterations and additions
Town's Churches, St Mary's Church and church hall	In year 1844		Dundee	Scotland	Designs drawn up for new church following rejection of scheme for rebuilding the medieval church, burnt 1841.
Fife Arms Hotel and adjoining premises for the Trustees of Lord Fife	In year 1844	Banff	Banffshire	Scotland
Trinity Church	In year 1844		Edinburgh	Scotland	Building dismantled under Bryce's supervision and various schemes prepared
Balcaskie	In year 1844	Pittenweem	Fife	Scotland	West (Carnbee) Lodge
Mertoun House	In year 1844	Mertoun	Berwickshire	Scotland	Alterations and additions, including new south wing, reusing old pavilion
Whitehill	In year 1844	Rosewell	Midlothian	Scotland	House, lodge etc
Preston House	In year 1844	Linlithgow	West Lothian	Scotland	House, lodge and gateway
Thirlestane Castle	In year 1844	Lauder	Berwickshire	Scotland	Completion of additions - begun by Burn, probably partly designed by Bryce; may have been completed in partnership
Carradale House	In year 1844	Carradale	Argyll	Scotland
Bamff House	In year 1844	Alyth	Perthshire	Scotland	Additions
Norton House and ancillary buildings	c. 1844		Midlothian	Scotland	HS- 'style of David Bryce'
Riccarton Estate Lodge	c. 1844		West Lothian	Scotland	HS - 'style of William Burn and David Bryce'
The Parsonage, Dunmore Park	In year 1845		Stirlingshire	Scotland

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References