Architects

Name:

Arthur Clyne

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

04/03/1926

Year of Birth :

1853

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:

01/06/1924

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 :

Arthur Clyne was born in Aberdeen in 1853 and was the son of Norval Clyne, an advocate (i.e. solicitor) there. He was articled to James Matthews c.1868 and at the end of his apprenticeship moved to become an assistant in the office of Andrew Heiton of Perth. He commenced independent practice c.1876, sharing an office at 177 Union Street Aberdeen with John Bridgeford Pirie, a former colleague from Matthews's practice, and in 1881 they merged their practices as Pirie & Clyne (although some letters addressed to them as 'Pirie & Clyne' predate this) and moved to 123 1/2 Union Street which was to remain their address. In 1882 they had some kind of link with Frederick Pilkington, with whose work their own had some affinities, as W T Johnston has established that Pirie shared Pilkington's address at 2 Hill Street Edinburgh in that year.

Pirie's connections with John Morgan the builder provided the practice with a steady flow of commissions for villas and terraced housing, but the practice was otherwise dependent on success in competitions and Clyne's strong Episcopal church connections. It did not reach the final tier in the Glasgow Municipal Buildings competition, was unpremiated in the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Gray's School of Art competition and came only third in that for Aberdeen Public Library but it did initially have significant successes in local competitions for churches, all of which were designed in a very original muscular early Gothic style. While Morgan's own house was gothic of the same school their few commercial buildings and their villas tended to be in a highly original variation of Alexander Thomson's style.

Pirie died of tuberculosis on 24 February 1892 at his house at 24 Hamilton Place, leaving no moveable estate and a widow and five children. Morgan was involved in raising money for them; there may have been some difficulty with Clyne as Pirie's son, Bridgeford MacDougall Pirie (born 1877), did not join Clyne's practice, and the Pirie family withdrew Pirie's drawings from the practice.

After Pirie's death Clyne's work became less unconventional, his church work being strongly influenced by the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society of which he and Morgan were founder members. His Episcopal Church of St Devenick at Bieldside (1902) was pure late Scots Gothic, close in style to Alexander Marshall Mackenzie's work of the same vintage. There seems to have been no difference of any kind with Morgan after Pirie's death as he was to remain an important client. Clyne removed the practice to 33 St Swithin Street and was President of the Aberdeen Society of Architects in 1900, being admitted FRIBA in April 1901 by virtue of that office. He stood down as President in 1904 but was re-elected for the years 1909-13. He retired in 1914 when the practice, then back in Union Street at no 375, was closed. He died at Charlwood House, Charlwood, Surrey on 6 January 1924.

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
Cholmley Lodge Surrey England	Private
Charlwood House Charlwood Surrey England	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
2 Glover Street Perth Perthshire Scotland	Business	1874		While still an apprentice with Heiton
177 Union Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business	c. 1876	1881
123 1/2 Union Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business	Late 1881	After 1909
33 St Swithin Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business	1900
375 Union Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business	1914

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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
Pirie & Clyne	200045	In year 1881	In year 1892	Partner
Matthews & Lawrie	100130	c. 1868	c. 1873	Apprentice	In Aberdeen office, under James Matthews
Andrew Heiton (junior)	201086	c. 1873	c. 1876	Assistant

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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
David Colville	203460	1904/04	1906/11	Assistant
Harvey Mennie	202018	In year 1895	In year 1902	Chief Assistant

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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
John Ross McMillan	1907/03/04	for Fellowship
George Watt	1907/03/04	for Fellowship
Harvey Mennie	1910/07/04	for Licentiateship
James Augustus Souttar	Late 1910s	for Licentiateship
Thomas Harold Hughes	1911/03/27	for Associateship
David Colville	1911/06/12	for Associateship
William Liddle Duncan	1911/07/20	for Licentiateship
James Lowson	1911/12/04	for Licentiateship
John Alexander Ogg Allan	1912/06/24	for Licentiateship
William Edgar Gauld	1913/06/09	for Fellowship
John Alexander Ogg Allan	In year 1915	for Fellowship
John Kirkwood Currie	1919/03/03	for Associateship

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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
Altarpiece	In year 1874				'Suggestion' fopr altarpiece
Craigmillar Steam Laundry	After 1876	Craigmillar	Edinburgh	Scotland	Date unknown
Parish Home	After 1876	Peterhead	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Skene Manse	In year 1878	Skene	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Additions
St Margaret's Episcopal Chapel	In year 1879	Braemar	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Queen's Cross Free Church	In year 1879		Aberdeen	Scotland	Won competition and secured job
24 Rubislaw Den South	In year 1879		Aberdeen	Scotland
Design for a small house	In year 1879		Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Town and County Bank	1880s	Echt	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Glasgow Municipal Buildings	In year 1880		Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design, not successful
Victoria Hall	In year 1880	Castleton, Braemar	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
York Street School	In year 1881		Aberdeen	Scotland
Robertson Memorial Church	In year 1881	Peterhead	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Central School	In year 1881	Fraserburgh	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Headmaster\'s House - perhaps by Pirie & Clyne
Viewbank	In year 1881	Pitfodels	Aberdeen	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher
Who's Who in Architecture		1914
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Who's Who in Architecture		1923
Ball, Victoria Reyner	Some interiors by John Bridgeford Pirie and Arthur Clyne, Architects, Aberdeen	1997	Journal of the Decorative Arts Society, no 21

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
RIBA Journal		1924/02/09	v31	p226 - obituary
Builder		1924/01/11	v126	p72 - obituary

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	F v13 p138 no841 (microfilm reel 11)
J B Pirie Collection	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200720
Collection of plans, manuscripts etc	Robert Gordon's University Archive	200743	Has a set of 20 drawings and plans of St Devenick's Church, Bieldside

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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

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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