Architects

Name:

John Smith

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

05/05/1926

Year of Birth :

1781

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:

22/07/1852

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 Smith was born in 1781, the son of William Smith, architect and builder, Aberdeen. Of the father little is recorded except that he was known as 'Sink'em'; that he had his workshop in Longacre; that he designed and built Gilcomston Chapel of Ease and the houses at the bottom end of Marischal Street, all in Aberdeen. It is not known exactly when he died but it appears to have been between February and November 1812. The son is said to have been sent at an early age to the office of James Playfair (or perhaps he assisted him in some junior capacity at the building of Cairness, Aberdeenshire, but neither the Playfair diary nor the Gordon muniments provide any evidence of it). He cannot have worked long for Playfair who died in 1794, and it is not known which London office he was in thereafter.

Around 1804 he returned to Aberdeen with an extensive collection of plans and was nearly lost as his ship entered Aberdeen Harbour in a storm. Around 1805 Smith designed his first major work in Aberdeen, a large house on Union Street for Patrick Milne of Crimonmogate. Two years later Smith succeeded Thomas Fletcher as engineer to the King Street, Union Street and Union Terrace works and laid out St Nicholas Street to connect it with George Street. By 1810 he had produced the first accurate survey of Aberdeen which was published in the same year. Thereafter he built up the largest business both in architecture and building and cabinet-making in the north-east, with headquarters at his house at 142 King Street, Aberdeen. He was associated with Thomas Telford on the harbour improvements planned from 1824 and was formally appointed superintendent of work for the City of Aberdeen in that same year. In that capacity he attended to such matters as street lighting, cleansing and executions (which are said to have brought gloom to the Smith household for weeks). He was also agent for the Imperial Insurance Company.

John died after a long and painful illness at Rosebank Hardgate, a pleasant 18th-century mansion with a large garden which he inherited from his father-in-law. He had married Margaret Grant, only child of Colonel George Grant of Auchterblair in Banffshire, a marriage which brought useful landed connections, their first home being at Longacre adjacent to the elder William Smith's house and builder's yard. Near contemporary accounts record that she was tall, good-looking and aristocratic in demeanour which a family portrait appears to confirm. Smith himself was 'a shy retiring man as well as an able and diligent official'.

Most members of their family died early but his son William joined the practice after graduating MA at Marischal College and subsequently sought experience in London with Thomas Leverton Donaldson. He appears to have returned to Aberdeen by 1842 and was made a partner in 1845, succeeding his father as Aberdeen City Architect on his death. His eldest daughter Margaret Grant Smith (died 1857) married Alexander Gibb, the civil engineer, on 17 March 1831. Some biographical details will be found in Lettice Milne Rae's 'Story of the Gibbs.'

John Smith's work was in his early years almost exclusively refined neo-Greek, but from 1820 onwards most of his churches and large houses were Tudor Gothic, the latter sometimes with Scottish features as at Balmoral from about 1830. These were closely modelled on William Burn's style with which he had become acquainted at Robert Gordon's, Fintray and Auchmacoy.

Brief biographical notices with short lists of principal works compiled by John's son William appeared in the Aberdeen Journal' in July 1852, in 'The Builder' and in the 'Architectural Publication Society's Dictionary'. A great many informative references to his career in Aberdeen will be found in G M Frazer's biography of Archibald Simpson (1790-1847), which appeared as a serial in the 'Aberdeen Weekly Journal' of 1918. A collected copy of these articles is available at Aberdeen Public Library. A fragmentary list of plans and some of his accounts (1807-1832) are in the National Monuments Record of Scotland.

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
142 King Street Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
142 King Street Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business	c. 1804

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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	Notes
James Playfair	201988	After 1792	In year 1794	Apprentice
Aberdeen City Architect's Department (later City of Aberdeen District Council Architects Division)	204261	In year 1824	1852/07/22	Chief Architect	City Architect (Superintendent of Works). Death date given for termination of employ
J & W Smith	200455	In year 1845		Senior Partner

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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
William Smith II	201859	After 1830	Before 1844	Apprentice
Thomas Mackenzie	200897	In year 1835	In year 1835	Assistant
William Smith II	201859	In year 1844	In year 1845	Senior Assistant
Robert Kerr	201848	c. 1838

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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
Crimonmogate House	In year 1805		Aberdeen	Scotland	Original house
Footdee, North and South Squares	In year 1808		Aberdeen	Scotland
Bridewell Sewer	In year 1809		Aberdeen	Scotland
Pitfour House, stables, west lodge etc	c. 1809	New Deer	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Reconstruction
Cortes House	c. 1810		Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Perhaps by Smith
Keith Hall, stables, lodges, walled garden	c. 1810	Keithhall	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Stables. East lodge and bridge at north drive are attributed to Smith
Bridge of Dee	In year 1811		Aberdeen	Scotland	New approach. Widening with James Walker of London
Mannar House and Offices	In year 1811	Inverurie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Perth Sheriff Court Accommodation	In year 1811	Perth	Perthshire	Scotland	Competition design
Union Street West End	In year 1812		Aberdeen	Scotland	Formed west end of Union Street
Bridge of Dee	In year 1813		Aberdeen	Scotland	Improvements
Barn and Kiln, Aberdeen Malt Mill	In year 1813		Aberdeen	Scotland
Phesdo House	In year 1814		Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Also stables and lodge
Brucklay House	In year 1814	New Deer	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Extension including entrance hall
Drumtochty Castle	In year 1815	Drumtochty	Kincardineshire	Scotland	Large additions, probably to James Gillespie Graham's design

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
APSD	The Dictionary of Architecture		The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892)	ed Wyatt Papworth
Colvin, H M	A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840	1995	New Haven and London: Yale University Press	3rd edition
The New Town Phenomenon	The New Town Phenomenon: the second generation	2000	St Andrews: St Andrews Studies in the history of architecture and design		Chapter on John Smith by David M Walker.
Porter, Michael	The public buildings and churches of John Smith in Aberdeen	1979	The Robert Gordon University, post graduate dissertation
Souter, Christine	Country houses in Banff and Buchan by Playfair, Smith & Simpson	1988	Robert Gordon University, post graduate student dissertation

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder	1852/08/07	v10	p506 - obituary
Aberdeen Journal	1852/07/28	*	Obituary
Aberdeen Weekly Journal	1918	*	Serial on Archibald Simpson by G M Fraser
Scotsman	1831/03/26		Marriage of Margaret Smith and Alexander Gibb on 17 March 1831.

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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
John Smith Papers (List of Plans and accounts)	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200270

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 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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