Architects

Name:

(Sir) Andrew Thomas Taylor

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

13/10/1850

Year of Birth :

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:

12/05/1937

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 :

Andrew Thomas Taylor was born in Edinburgh on 13 October 1850, the son of publisher James Taylor and Agnes Drummond, and was articled to Pilkington & Bell in Edinburgh from 1864 to 1869. Thereafter he was in the architectural department of the Duke of Roxburgh's estate office for a year, followed by a further year as assistant to William Smith in Aberdeen. In 1872 he moved to London as assistant to Joseph Clarke, and he remained there until 1878, during which period he appears to have studied at the RA Schools and at University College. He won the RIBA Silver Medal in 1874 for an essay on architecture in London in the sixteenth century, and spent two months in France and Italy in 1877, visiting, among other places, Rouen, Paris, Milan and Florence. He was admitted ARIBA on 4 March 1878, his proposers being Clarke, Richard Phené Spiers and Professor T Hayter Lewis, and in the following year he passed the District Surveyor's exam. He was to be an RIBA medallist for a second time in 1881, this time for an essay on the towers and steeples of Sir Christopher Wren.

Taylor commenced independent practice in 1879 at 29 Finsbury Road, London and was immediately successful his first commission being the Memorial Hall and Schools at Dover, built 1880-81. By early 1880 he had formed a association with an earlier Pilkington pupil, Henry Hall, in order to enter the Glasgow Municipal Buildings competition as Joint Architects. Henry Hall was born at Wansford, Lincolnshire in 1826 and was subsequently assistant first to Edward Blore and then William Allen Boulnois. In 1882 they came second in the second stage of the second competition with a design by Taylor, the winner William Young being instructed to adopt certain features of the plan. The cost of entering this final tier seems to have been a problem. Taylor then wrote appealing for an uplift in the £150 second premium as it had not covered the staff costs of entering the competition and appears to have had some success.

In 1881 Taylor wrote and illustrated an important book: 'The Towers and Steeples designed by Sir Christopher Wren, a descriptive, historical and critical essay' published by Batsford. It may have been based on his RIBA prize essay.

Although Taylor's obituary of Hall shows that their relationship remained a happy one, Taylor then entered into partnership with George William Hamilton Gordon. Born in 1854, Gordon was extremely well connected, educated at Eton and apprenticed to Alfred Waterhouse 1874-78, remaining as assistant until he joined Taylor in 1882. In the following year Taylor set up an office in Montreal where he had the influential support of his maternal uncle, the industrialist and financier George Drummond, Gordon remaining in charge of the London office. In 1886 Gordon passed the qualifying exam and was admitted ARIBA on 21 June his proposers being Waterhouse, Arthur Blomfield and Arthur Cates. Shortly thereafter, in 1888, the partnership was dissolved. The reasons are not known, but the Montreal practice was much more successful than the London one.

Thereafter Taylor concentrated solely on his practice at 43 St Francis Xavier Street in Montreal where he worked in a Richardsonian Romanesque manner and was active in public life and education. He was advanced to FRIBA on 3 June 1889, his proposers being Octavius Hansard, Alexander Graham, Henry Hall and John Macvicar Anderson, all of London. He retired from architecture in 1904 and returned to London where he pursued a second career in politics. He represented Hampstead on London County Council from 1908 to 1926 and was its mayor in 1923. He was also active in education and served on the managing committee of University College from 1911 until 1937. He was knighted for political rather than architectural services in 1926. He died in London on 5 December 1937.

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
16 Oakley Road London England	Private
56 Bouverie Road London England	Private
22 Lyndhurst Road Hampstead London England	Private

row(s) 1 - 3 of 3

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
29 Finsbury Pavement London England	Business	1879	1880
72 Finsbury Pavement London England	Business	1880 or 1881	1888
43 St Francis Xavier Street Montreal Canada	Business	1886	1904

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
William Smith II	201859	1870 or 1871	1871 or 1872	Assistant
Frederick Thomas Pilkington	200795	In year 1864	In year 1867	Apprentice
Pilkington & Bell	100142	In year 1867	In year 1869	Apprentice
Joseph Clarke	203817	In year 1872	In year 1878	Assistant
Taylor & Gordon	203816	In year 1882	In year 1888	Partner

row(s) 1 - 5 of 5

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
Thomas McLaren	202495	In year 1902	In year 1905	Assistant

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

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
Thomas Hayter Lewis	201705	1878/03/04	for Associateship
Joseph Clarke	203817	1878/03/04	for Associateship
Richard PhenÃ© Spiers	203602	1878/03/04	for Associateship
Alexander Graham	203588	1889/06/03	for Fellowship
Arthur Cates	203632	1889/06/03	for Fellowship
Octavius Hansard	203658	1889/06/03	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
Thomas McLaren	1903/03/02	for Associateship

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

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
Glasgow Municipal Buildings	In year 1881			Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design for second competition, entered under the pseudonym 'St Ronan', suggesting Peeblesshire connections; placed 2nd - entered with Henry Hall.

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Who's Who in Architecture		1914
Who's Who in Architecture		1926
Who's Who in Architecture		1923

row(s) 1 - 4 of 4

The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
RIBA Journal		1938/01/10	v45	p257 - obituary

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

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 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