Architects

Name:

McNair & Elder

Designation :

Architectural practice

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

15/06/1926

Year of Birth :

1936

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:

After (Year)

Exact DOD:

15/06/1926

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

Date of Death Before (Year):

Date of Death After (Year):

1941

DOD (1st 'Or' Year):

DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

Town of Birth :

Bio Notes :

Charles James McNair was born on 1 November 1881, the son of Henry McNair, butcher, and Catherine Sloan. He was articled to James Archibald Morris of Ayr from 1898 to 1903. In the latter year he moved to Glasgow to become assistant to John Nisbet and took over his practice on his retirement in 1910, with Robert Norman Houghton McKellar as his chief assistant from 1913.

McNair was primarily a cinema architect mainly through his partnership with George Urie Scott in the Cinema Construction Co: between the wars he worked with Robert Walter Elder. Elder had been born at Cathcart in 1899 (Reg Dist 560, entry no 159), the son of David Elder, assistant city assessor, and his wife Elizabeth Sorley Buchan. He had been educated at Uddingston Grammar School and had taken a two-year evening class course in building construction at Glasgow High School to qualify for entrance to the Glasgow School of Architecture. He had undertaken the diploma course from 1921 to 1926 while articled to Southorn & Orr, and had won the bronze medal with a design for a shelter in a public park in 1923. A minor travelling scholarship had enabled him to spend a fortnight in London. He had been admitted ARIBA on 20 June 1927, his proposers being T Harold Hughes, James Lochhead and William Brown Whitie. Immediately thereafter he had joined McNair as senior assistant, soon to become junior partner, and his name was acknowledged in the practice title from 1936 as McNair & Elder.

Elder was the principal designer in the firm, working with five assistants and an apprentice in a back room on accomplished Art Deco schemes which ensured the practice's continuing success. He was personally a timid chain-smoker who preferred to let McNair deal with the clients. He was remembered by an assistant, Robert Forsyth, as 'a very shy man who didn't want to take the credit'. Some of the practice's later work was considerably influenced by Thomas Smith Tait. By 1950 Arthur James Ridley had been taken into partnership, the practice title becoming C J McNair Elder & Ridley.

McNair was married twice: first to Agnes Jane Hamilton, and later to Margaret Coutts Jack. He died of coronary thrombosis in Victoria Infirmary on 17 August 1955, his home address at the time of his death being 16 Carolside Avenue, Clarkston. He left estate of £8,902 17s 10d.

Elder never married and in later years suffered from Parkinson's disease. He died of pneumonia at Belvidere Hospital on 15 February 1963.

'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:

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
272 St Vincent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	Before 1937		After 1941

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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
Frederick William Griffiths	206732	1935/10	After 1937/09	Assistant
Robert Aitchison	400807	1939/04	1939/09	Assistant
Herbert Ramage	206275	In year 1934	In year 1935	Assistant
John Duncan Allan	206620	In year 1935	In year 1942	Assistant
Charles James McNair	202471	In year 1936	After 1941	Partner
James Hastie MacLeod	400801	In year 1936	In year 1936	Chief Assistant
Robert Walter Elder	202514	In year 1936	After 1941	Partner
David Millar	403600	In year 1937	In year 1940	Assistant
Robert Forsyth	206710	In year 1937	In year 1941	Apprentice

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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
The Old Church, Ayr	1930s	Ayr	Ayrshire	Scotland	Session House
Talkie Theatre	In year 1930	Dumfries	Dumfriesshire	Scotland
Regal Cinema and Bingo Hall	In year 1934	Coatbridge	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Cinema	In year 1934	Motherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Alterations and additions after a fire
Bellgrove Hotel	In year 1935		Glasgow	Scotland
King's Theatre (and tenement)	In year 1935	Kirkcaldy	Fife	Scotland	Interior rebuilt as cinema - McNair responsible
Pavilion Theatre	c. 1935	Barrhead	Glasgow	Scotland
Princes Cinema	In year 1936	Springburn	Glasgow	Scotland
Palaceum Cinema	In year 1936	Shettleston	Glasgow	Scotland	Rebuilding
Cinema	In year 1936	Inverness	Inverness-shire	Scotland
Cinema, Mount Florida	In year 1936	Mount Florida	Glasgow	Scotland
Cinema on Palladium site	In year 1936	Tollcross	Glasgow	Scotland
Two Super Cinemas	In year 1936	Miotherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Plaza Cinema	In year 1936	Govan	Glasgow	Scotland
Dennistoun Palais de Danse	In year 1937	Dennistoun	Glasgow	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Peter, Bruce	100 Years of Glasgow's Amazing Cinemas	1996	Edinburgh: Polygon

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

Bib ref classic