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Basic Biographic Details
Name:
John Alexander Carfrae
Designation :
Architect
Date of Birth:
Year Only
Exact DOB:
27/05/1926
Year of Birth :
1868
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:
07/11/1947
Year of Death:
Circa Year of Death:
Date of Death Before (Year):
Date of Death After (Year):
DOD (1st 'Or' Year):
DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):
Town of Birth :
Bio Notes :
John Alexander Carfrae was born in 1868 and was educated at James Gillespie's School. In December 1881 he was articled to Robert Wilson, architect to the Edinburgh School Board. He remained with him as assistant until February 1889, concurrently attending classes at Edinburgh School of Art and Heriot-Watt College. On leaving Wilson's office he moved to London as assistant to Arthur Cawston, transferring to HM Office of Works under Henry Tanner in the following year. During this time he was a boarder in Battersea and attended Northcote Road Baptist Church for which he drew up plans for alterations to the dais area. He returned to Edinburgh to work in Sydney Mitchell and Wilson's practice in June 1892. Six months later he returned to Robert Wilson's practice as principal assistant, taking over most of the design work. A partnership with Alexander Hunter Crawford may have been considered as in 1897 they submitted a joint design in the competition for Denton Holme School, Carlisle in which they were placed fifth, the assessor being Edward Robert Robson. In the event, Crawford went into partnership with Rowand Anderson and Frank Worthington Simon and when Wilson died in 1901, Carfrae inherited his office and his position as architect to the Edinburgh School Board. He was admitted LRIBA on 27 February 1911, his proposers being Hunter Crawford, John Campbell Turner Murray and James Andrew Minty. His travels up to that point had taken him to Belgium, Holland and France, and around the cathedral cities of Britain.
Carfrae was one of the most brilliant architects of his generation although much of his work was constrained by standard board school formats. Whether Wilson allowed him to design anything as a senior assistant prior to his departure in 1889 is uncertain but it is tempting to see his hand in the fine tall Queen Anne style school at Sciennes, built in that year. After his return from London his mastery of Queen Anne and neo-Jacobean can be seen to develop rapidly notably at Bruntsfield School (1893) Broughton Road School (1897) and North Canongate School (1897); Flora Stevenson School, Comely Bank (1899-1900), refined free Queen Anne and neo-Georgian commemorates John JamesStevenson's formidable sister, a prominent member of the Edinburgh School Board who may have had some influence on the London-inspired Queen Anne aesthetic of the school built in those years.
Carfrae's full power as a designer was first seen at the first Boroughmuir School a brilliant polychrome free Renaissance design comparable with the best London work of the same date. Although no reference to him travelling there has been found, Drummond Street and Preston Street have a marked North European/Scandinavian character, the former with detail of exceptional refinement.
Carfrae's later schools are of mixed quality, evidently as a result of overstretched School Board finances in the period 1910-15. King's Park at St Leonards was a brilliant towered Scots Renaissance design built of stone because of its commanding site overlooking Holyrood Park, Tollcross was also in stone and an exceptionally handsome symmetrical Renaissance design but the second Boroughmuir, of harled brick with stone dressings, was the most brilliant of them all, in composition and detail a challenge to Sir John James Burnet. By contrast, Bellevue and Tynecastle were painfully cheap and starved with brick and synthetic stone dressings. Whether such economies had any bearing on Carfrae's pioneer and quite unparalleled conservation exercises at Cannonball House and Duncan Street is not yet known but they were to remain unique until Kininmonth's restoration of Bruntsfield House for James Gillespie's School in 1962.
Carfrae lost his practice as a result of the local government changes in 1918-20 although the City Architect, Ebenezer James MacRae, entrusted him with the building of Balgreen and Stenhouse Schools in 1929. He retired completely in 1939 and died on 11 July 1947, leaving estate of £36,547 12s 6d. MacRae wrote of Carfrae that 'while his planning was the result of a wide knowledge of educational requirements, he was never satisfied with the routine treatment of earlier days and his schools have an individuality and freshness of design, some like James Gillespie's Girls [the first Boroughmuir] and King's Park, on splendid sites, being completely outstanding in treatment…In spite of never robust health, his output of work was amazing…[he] was a fine draughtsman and a good watercolourist. He was quiet and retiring and of a singularly gracious nature'.
He was married to Augusta Wilkes Henderson and had two sons.
Bio Notes continued...
Additional Notes
Addresses
The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:
Private Addresses
Private Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From Char
Date From Type
Date To Char
Date To Type
Notes
24 Lavender Gardens Battersea London England
Private
Carfrae was a boarder at this address in 1891 when he was working for H M Office of Works.
9 Hope Park Terrace Edinburgh Scotland
Private
26 Forbes Road Edinburgh Scotland
Private
3 South Gillsland Road Edinburgh Scotland
Private
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Business Addresses
Business Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From
Date From Type
Date To
Date To Type
Notes
3 Queen Street Edinburgh Scotland
Business
1897
1937
With Robert Wilson until 1901
row(s) 1 - 1 of 1
Employment and Training
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
Notes
Robert Wilson
200308
1881/12
1885/12
Apprentice
Robert Wilson
200308
1885/12
1889/02
Assistant
Arthur Cawston
200311
1889/02
1890/10
Assistant
H M Office of Works (later Ministry of Works, Department of the Environment and Property Services Agency)
201531
1890/10
1892/06
Assistant
In London office
Sydney Mitchell & Wilson
200312
1892/06
1893/01
Assistant
Robert Wilson
200308
1893/01
1901/07/01
Principal Assistant
Edinburgh School Board Architects Department
203643
Chief Architect
row(s) 1 - 7 of 7
Employees or Pupils
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
Victor James de Spiganovicz
200848
1901/07/01
Early 1908s
Assistant
Robert Blyth
204114
1923/06
1924/11
Assistant
James Meldrum Mitchell
205661
1926/08
1927/11
John Thomas Galletly
201295
After 1901
In year 1904
Principal Assistant
Alexander Murray Hardie
201385
In year 1899
In year 1901
Assistant
In office of Robert Wilson
William Henry Johnson (junior)
201735
In year 1899
In year 1900
Assistant
in the office of Robert Wilson, School Board Architect
John Stuart Syme
203537
In year 1902
In year 1904
Chief Assistant
In Edinburgh School Board Architect's Office
Stanley White Edgar
206984
In year 1932
In year 1933
Junior Assistant
John Okell
206913
In year 1935
In year 1936
Assistant
James Gray
201073
Mid 1901s
Mid 1901s
Assistant
Six weeks only - presumably during summer?
row(s) 1 - 10 of 10
RIBA Proposers
The following individuals proposed this person for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic
Proposer
Proposer Link
Date Proposed
Notes
Alexander Hunter Crawford
200056
1911/02/27
for Licentiateship
John Campbell Turner Murray
202079
1911/02/27
for Licentiateship
James Andrew Minty
202080
1911/02/27
for Licentiateship
row(s) 1 - 3 of 3
Buildings and Designs
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
Edinburgh Industrial Ragged School
After 1887
Liberton
Edinburgh
Scotland
Additions. Carfrae as School Board architect
St Philip's Church
1889/02
Stepney
London
England
As assistant
Marden Park
c. 1889
Woldingham
Surrey
England
As assistant
Abingdon Post Office
After 1890
Abingdon
Berkshire
England
As assistant
General Post Office Building, Newgate Street
After 1890
London
England
As assistant - extension
County Court
After 1890
Oldham
Lancashire
England
As assistant
Northcote Road Baptist Church
1891/12
London
England
Alterations to the dais area
Bruntsfield Public School
In year 1893
Edinburgh
Scotland
Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office
Roseburn School
In year 1893
Edinburgh
Scotland
Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office
Leith Walk School and lodge
In year 1894
Edinburgh
Scotland
Enlargement (Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office)
Brechin Police Building
In year 1894
Brechin
Angus
Scotland
Design exhibited. Carfrae in private practice (1892-1901)
Niddrie Mains School
In year 1894
Niddrie Mains
Edinburgh
Scotland
Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office
Regent Road School
In year 1894
Abbeyhill
Edinburgh
Scotland
Additions. Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office
Preston Street School
In year 1895
Edinburgh
Scotland
Largely responsible, as assistant to Robert Wilson
Castlehill School
In year 1896
Edinburgh
Scotland
Carfrae as chief assistant in Wilson's office.
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Next
References
Bibliographic References
The following books contain references to this person:
Bib ref classic
Author
Title
Date
Publisher
Part
Notes
Who's Who in Architecture
1914
Post Office Directories
row(s) 1 - 2 of 2
Periodical References
The following periodicals contain references to this person:
Period ref classic
Periodical Name
Publisher
Date Circ
Edition
Notes
RIBA Journal
1948/02
*
Obituary p176 (by Ebenezeer Macrae)
Scotsman
1947/07/12
Death notice p8
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Archive References
The following archives hold material relating to this person:
Arc ref classic
Archive Name
Source
Source Cat No
Building Id
Item Name
Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers
RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum
100005
L v10 no564 (microfilm reel 32)
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