Architects

Name:

Charles Geddes Soutar

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

06/01/1926

Year of Birth :

1878

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:

14/11/1952

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 :

Charles Geddes Soutar was born in 1878 of a Forfar family and apprenticed to Charles & Leslie Ower from 1892 to 1898, latterly working under William Gillespie Lamond by whom he was profoundly influenced. During this period he took classes at Dundee Technical College, latterly under Patrick Hill Thoms who also had a considerable influence on the development of his domestic style. He remained with Leslie Ower for a year after the break-up of the partnership in 1898, moving in 1899 to the office of John Murray Robertson to widen his experience, but the following year he returned to Leslie Ower as chief assistant. In 1902 he commenced practice on his own account with some success. He remained on good terms with Charles Ower, for whom he designed Aystree in 1903. On 16 July 1908 Soutar married _____ Stewart. In that same year he merged his practice with that of John Turnbull Maclaren (born 1864) as Maclaren Sons & Soutar, a move which took the Maclaren practice back into the premier league. With his white or cream suits and stylish boating hats he brought a breath of fresh air to the practice, which had remained somewhat staid despite the recruitment of Andrew Patrick as leading draughtsman: a staff photograph of that time, now in the RCAHMS, well illustrates the difference between the partners, Maclaren being a portly figure in a sombre city suit.

In 1920 the practice merged with J & F Salmond, a firm of civil engineers, land surveyors and architects based at 6 High Street, the firm now becoming Maclaren Soutar Salmond with John Turnbull Maclaren, Charles Geddes Soutar and William Salmond as partners. In 1921 Maclaren retired and Patrick was taken into partnership, but the name of the firm remained unchanged, the merged firms now moving to 15 South Tay Street. Maclaren enjoyed a very long retirement, dying at the house he had built for himself, Whinsby, Abercromby Street, Barnhill on 20 March 1948.

Soutar was admitted ARIBA in late 1921, his proposers being Patrick Hill Thoms, John Donald Mills and Godfrey Daniel Bower Shepherd; and was admitted FRIBA the following year, again proposed by Thoms but this time with Alexander Nisbet Paterson and William Brown Whitie as his other proposers: Paterson and Whitie he had got to know through the RIAS of which he was an active member and was to become president in 1936-38.

In 1929 Maclaren Soutar Salmond took over the practice of David Wishart Galloway who had been killed in a motorcycle accident in that year, and for rather more than a decade maintained his office at 2 Market Street, Brechin as a branch, but this was de-merged to A B Roger as an independent practice in the 1940s.

Around 1933 the practice was joined as prospective partner by Thomas Steuart Fothringham, born 5 April 1907, who had been educated at Wellington and had read architecture at Trinity College Cambridge with Ian Gordon Lindsay and R A C Simpson. In the event his association with the practice was relatively short as he inherited the Pourie and Fothringham estates in April 1936 and did not return to the practice after serving as a Major in the Black Watch during the Second World War.

Charles Soutar's interest in the practice did not survive the Second World War either, and without him it went into a gradual decline. Although his practice was not particularly large, Soutar was a prominent figure in Scottish architecture between the wars. He was an outstanding Arts and Crafts architect with wide artistic interests and was remembered by his friends as generous in spirit and of infinite human kindness. Along with his client David Band of Band & Whyte and the schools inspector John Taylor Ewen, he was one of the principal patrons of the Arbroath artist James Waterston Herald. Although a very able designer and a fine draughtsman and watercolourist Patrick was content to take a secondary role in charge of the drawing office, producing beautiful presentation drawings for clients. Soutar became a very active member of the RIBA, and was elected to the Council for 1923-24, 1925-26 and 1935-44, serving as Vice-President from 1939 to 1944. Thomas Forbes Maclennan recalled that at these meetings he remained informal in style to the end, preferring plus fours to a city suit. Soutar was also a member of the Council of the Dundee Institute of Architects.

Soutar moved house to Wheatlands, Forfar in 1941. In 1946 he began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease and had to withdraw from the practice completely, and he died on 14 November 1952, leaving £5,166 13s 5d. His architect son David did not remain with the practice, preferring to take a civil service job in Aberdeen. The practice was continued by the ageing Andrew Patrick and by William Salmond whose expertise lay chiefly in valuation. The latter was an old-fashioned gentleman of impressive presence, very tall, infinitely courteous and patient, qualities which served him well as the long-serving chairman of the Dundee rent tribunal. After Andrew Patrick died in 1951 the architectural work was in the hands of the practice's middle-aged chief assistant Stuart O Barron who had become a partner on Soutar's retirement.

'Biography authored by the Dictionary of Scottish Architects Compilation Team.'

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
Easterbank/3 Gordon Street Barnhill Dundee Scotland	Private
Harecraig/26 Dundee Road West Ferry Dundee Scotland	Private
Wheatlands Hillside Road Forfar Angus Scotland	Private

row(s) 1 - 3 of 3

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
30 Whitehall Street Dundee Scotland	Business	1902	1908
10 Reform Street Dundee Scotland	Business	1908	1920
15 South Tay Street Dundee Scotland	Business	1920	After 1939

row(s) 1 - 3 of 3

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
C & L Ower	200228	In year 1892	In year 1898	Apprentice
Leslie Ower	200204	In year 1898	In year 1899	Assistant
John Murray Robertson	200015	In year 1899	In year 1900	Assistant
Leslie Ower	200204	In year 1900	In year 1902	Chief Assistant
Maclaren Sons & Soutar	202373	In year 1908	In year 1920	Partner
Maclaren Soutar Salmond	200129	In year 1920	In year 1946	Partner

row(s) 1 - 6 of 6

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
Patrick Hill Thoms	200230	Late 1921s	for Associateship
Godfrey Daniel Bower Shepherd	202106	Late 1921s	for Associateship
John Donald Mills	202103	Late 1921s	for Associateship
Patrick Hill Thoms	200230	Late 1922s	for Fellowship
Alexander Nisbet Paterson	200361	Late 1922s	for Fellowship
William Brown Whitie	202396	Late 1922s	for Fellowship

row(s) 1 - 6 of 6

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

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Joseph Weekes	1926/06/14	for Fellowship
William Salmond	Late 1929s	for Fellowship
Robert William Lowe	Early 1930s	for Licentiateship
George Charles Campbell	In year 1931	for Licentiateship
James Smith Leslie	Early 1931s	for Licentiateship
George Brown Deas	In year 1932	for Licentiateship
William Mollison	Early 1932s	for Associateship
Alexander Robert Fordyce Anderson	Early 1932s	for Associateship
George Fairweather	Early 1932s	for Associateship
Thomas Hill Thoms	Late 1932s	for Associateship
Graham Conacher Young	1933/05/01	for Licentiateship
Robert Dron	1934/12/03	for Associateship
James Christopher Rogerson	1934/12/03	for Licentiateship
David Smith	1935/07/22	for Fellowship
Robert Norman Houghton MacKellar	1936/06/22	for Fellowship

row(s) 1 - 15 of 46

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
Bridge of Allan Sanatorium	In year 1902	Bridge of Allan	Stirlingshire	Scotland
Aystree	In year 1903	West Ferry	Dundee	Scotland	For Charles Ower Junior
Mission Hall	In year 1903		Dundee	Scotland
House in Woodend Road	In year 1903	Cardenden	Fife	Scotland
Young Men's Christian Association buildings	In year 1904	Cupar	Fife	Scotland
Houses	In year 1904		East Lothian	Scotland
Moraig	In year 1905		Dundee	Scotland
Double villa for Charles Ogilvy	In year 1906	Kirriemuir	Angus	Scotland
St Salvadors Episcopal Church and Hall	In year 1906		Dundee	Scotland	Supervision of stencils being replaced in oils
Semi-detached Villa, 18-20 Bingham Terrace	c. 1906		Dundee	Scotland
Free South Church	c. 1906	Monifieth	Angus	Scotland	Addition of transepts
Roycroft	c. 1906	Barnhill	Dundee	Scotland
UF Church hall	In year 1907	Strathmiglo	Fife	Scotland	Prepared plans but apparently not executed
Caxton House Printing Premises	In year 1908		Dundee	Scotland
Tighnamuirin	In year 1909	Monifieth	Angus	Scotland	Motor House

row(s) 1 - 15 of 88

The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Johnston, W T	Artists of Scotland	2003	Officina Publications CDROM
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1939-1940	1939	London: Royal Institute of British Architects

row(s) 1 - 2 of 2

The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder		1952/11/21		p755 - obituary

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

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	A no3355 (microfilm reel 26); F no1897 (microfilm reel 15)
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041	Personal information from David Stewart Soutar
NMRS Photographic Archive	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200159	Photograph of John Turnbull Maclaren and Soutar with staff Acc No 1999/132 (D21000)

row(s) 1 - 3 of 3

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

Bib ref classic

Periodical References

Period ref classic

Archive References

Arc ref classic