Architects

Name:

Alexander Cullen (junior)

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

04/09/1892

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

11/07/1963

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Bio Notes :

Alexander Cullen was born in Hamilton on 9 April 1892, youngest son of Alexander Cullen and his wife Barbara Rodger. He was educated at Hamilton Academy and Glasgow High School, and attended classes at Glasgow School of Art from September 1910, receiving his architectural training in his father's firm of Cullen, Lochhead & Brown from January 1911 and also studying at the Royal Technical College under Eugène Bourdon. In July 1914 he undertook a sketching and measuring tour of Ely, Cambridge, Lincoln and York. He passed the qualifying exam in Glasgow in March 1915 and soon thereafter was commisssioned in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, serving in France until the end of the war. He made further measured drawing visits, to Arras in October 1916, to Amiens in March 1917 and to Chalons-sur-Marne in October 1917.

On returning from war in 1919 he rejoined Cullen, Lochhead & Brown as an assistant. He passed the qualifying exam in 1920 and was admitted ARIBA in the same year, his proposers being James Lochhead, John Keppie and John Watson. He made a study trip to Canterbury in 1922 and either from choice or necessity he left Cullen, Lochhead & Brown's at the end of that year. On 1 January 1923 he commenced practice in Hamilton in competition with them, shortly thereafter winning the competition for Glasgow High School War Memorial Sports Pavilion. Professor W J Smith who was a contemporary at Glasgow School of Art and Royal College described his practice as having 'flourished' and during this period he carried out commissions for the British Linen Bank, Messrs Colvilles and local authorities. No work is at present recorded after 1931 but much of his work at this time may have related to town planning as he obtained the RIBA Diploma in Town Planning with distinction and passed the external examinations of the Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and was for a time Chairman of the Scottish branch of the Town Planning Institute.

Cullen was made a Fellow of the Surveyors' Institution in 1925, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1924, a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland in 1929, and was admitted FRIBA in early 1930, his proposers being John Keppie, William Brown Whitie and Andrew Balfour. He completed the work in hand of Thomas Spiers Fraser, a former partner in the Cullen, Lochhead & Brown practice who had likewise set up independent practice in Hamilton, after the latter's death in October 1934, although none of these works has yet been identified. In 1936 he married Margaret Watt, daughter of W H Watt.

Between the wars Cullen served in the Territorial Army. When war was declared in September 1939 Cullen became a Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 6th Battalion of the Cameronians and again served in France bringing his battalion home safely from Cherbourg in 1941 for which his services were awarded with an OBE.

After the war Cullen was only briefly in private practice being appointed in 1946 County Architect and Planning Officer for Invernessshire, a post which he held until his retirement at the age of sixty four, ten years later. Despite post-war restrictions his local housing received a Saltire Award. The RIBA Kalendar of 1950-51 records that at that date he was OBE, TD, FRICS, FRSE, MTPI, FSA (Scot) and that he had been awarded RIBA Distinction and the RIBA Diploma in Town Planning.

Cullen resumed private practice, now based at 5 Castle Street, Inverness, after his retirement. One job he undertook was the repair and adaptation of Old Leanach Cottage which was undertaken in conjunction with the Forres office of Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul. He was also involved with the re-roofing of King’s Stables Cottage for the NTS about 1962. He served on the Culloden Committee of the NTS until his death.

Throughout his Inverness years he retained connections with the Glasgow area as a governor of the Royal College and of Glasgow School of Art until 1958. He died on 7 November 1963.

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
14 Hamilton Park Terrace Glasgow Scotland	Private
Invercoe Uddingston Lanarkshire Scotland	Private
County Chambers Inverness Inverness-shire Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
88 Cadzow Street Hamilton Lanarkshire Scotland	Business	1926
92 Cadzow Street Hamilton Lanarkshire Scotland	Business	Before 1931	1954	Address given in RIBAJ obituary of Thomas S Fraser
County Chambers Inverness Inverness-shire Scotland	Private/business	c. 1945	1963

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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
Cullen, Lochhead & Brown	200395	1911/01	1915/03	Apprentice
Inverness County Architect's Office	400661	Before 1950		Chief Architect
Cullen, Lochhead & Brown	200395	In year 1919	In year 1922	Assistant

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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
James Lochhead	200391	Early 1920s	for Associateship
John Watson	203278	Early 1920s	for Associateship
John Keppie	200838	Early 1920s	for Associateship
Andrew Balfour	100136	Early 1930s	for Fellowship
John Keppie	200838	Early 1930s	for Fellowship
William Brown Whitie	202396	Early 1930s	for Fellowship

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This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Lennox Dundas Paterson	Late 1931s	For Associateship
Margaret Jean Sutherland Love (Mrs Gardner)	1938/01/10	for Associateship
Andrew McGraw	1938/04/04	for Fellowship
Lennox Dundas Paterson	1939/02/06	for Fellowship
James Alexander Wyllie	1944/11/14	for Licentiateship
David Polson Hall	1951/05/01	For Fellowship
Robert Alison Crighton Simpson	1952/01/08	For Fellowship
Hugh Sinclair Macdonald	Late 1955s	for Fellowship
James Stevenson	1956/03/06	For Licentiateship
William Glashan	1956/10/09	For Fellowship
George Clark Robb	Early 1956s	For Fellowship

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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
Birkwood House	In year 1923	Lesmahagow	Lanarkshire	Scotland	May have been involved in conversion to institution for juvenile mentally disabled patients
Welfare Scheme Buildings, Burnbank	In year 1924	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Glasgow High School War Memorial Club House	In year 1925	Anniesland	Glasgow	Scotland
Grandstand and Pavilion, Selkirk Rugby Club	In year 1926	Selkirk	Selkirkshire	Scotland
Palais de Danse	In year 1926	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
The Moorings	In year 1928	Motherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Alterations?
Area planning and housing scheme, Hamilton Town Council	In year 1928	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
St Margaret's Parish Church	In year 1928		Edinburgh	Scotland
Omnibus Station	In year 1929	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Silk Factory	In year 1929	Motherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Grandstand and Ground Scheme, Motherwell Football Club	In year 1929	Motherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Petrol Filling Station	In year 1930	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
British Linen Bank	In year 1931	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Regal Cinema	In year 1937	Larkhall	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Reconstruction and extension
Bakery for Messrs Lightbody & Son	In year 1938	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher
Scottish Biographies		1938	E J Thurston (pub.)
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1939-1940	1939	London: Royal Institute of British Architects
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951	1950	London: Royal Institute of British Architects

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
RIBA Journal	1935/06/29	v42	p948 - obituary of Thomas S Fraser, stating that Cullen completed his works in hand after his death
RIBA Journal	1963	*	Obituary Check
RIAS Quarterly	1951/08	no 85	Appreciation, p3
Builder	1953/01/30		p216
Builder	1952/11/14		p728
Builder	1954/08/06		p239
Builder	1954/03/26		p573
Builder	1954/02/12		p321
Builder	1953/10/16		p600
Builder	1954/07/30		p198
Builder	1951/1/5		p27
Builder	1951/1/19		p121
Builder	1951/1/26		p155
Builder	1952/09/05		p349
Builder	1952/09/05		p349

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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
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005			A no2959 (microfilm reel 24); F no2770 (box 11)

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 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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