Architects

Name:

James Robb Scott

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

02/11/1882

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:

Year Only

Exact DOD:

18/05/1926

Year of Death:

1965

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 :

James Robb Scott was born in the Gorbals, Glasgow on 11 February 1882, the illegitimate son of the 30-year-old architect Andrew Robb Scott and the teenager Mary Fletcher. His parents married two years later in 1884.

James Robb Scott studied architectural classes in Edinburgh's School of Applied Arts from 1898 and was articled to Leadbetter & Fairley of Edinburgh by around 1900. Around 1905 he joined the noted office of Belcher & Joass in London: John James Joass was a fellow Scot, and his father may have provided the introduction. Scott was seemingly promoted to chief architectural assistant there but left in March 1906 to join the London & South Western Railway (LSWR). Tremellen notes he became the Railways' senior architectural assistant after 1918, and during the period of the reconstruction of Waterloo Station between 1909 and 1923. The engineer J W Jacomb-Hood (1822-1900) and A Q Szlumber had designed the roof and platforms, but Scott designed the large office range and the impressive Victory Arch, a main entrance and war memorial to the fallen employees of the Railway, in 1922. The office range housed the architects' office of the LSWR and later Southern Railways (SR) after the amalgamation of the 123 British railway companies into four principal companies in 1923. At this point Scott received three architectural assistants Rodney Thomas, Guy Morgan and Maxwell Fry. His department was very small, with only nine staff, and Scott served under the Chief Engineer Szlumper.

As chief architect to the Southern Railway, Scott designed, or was in charge of the design team of the stations at Ramsgate (1925), Bromley (1925), Byfleet and New Haw (1927), Ramsgate Dumpson Park (1928), Exmouth (1929), Wimbledon (1930), Wimbledon Chase (1930), Hastings (1931), Bishopstone (1936), Surbiton (1937), Richmond (1938), Malden Manor (1938), Horsham (1938), Chessington North (1939) and Chessington South (1939). Other stations designed by the company around this period include Woking, Margate, Kingston, Southampton Central, Tolworth and Southampton. There is some dispute as to Scott's actual involvement in these works: it has been remarked that the notable difference in style between his early classical Baroque of Waterloo Station and the later modernistic/art deco designs of the 1920s and '30s require that the buildings were designed by the team rather than Scott himself. Often the architectural drawings for the stations are unsigned, and it has been suggested that Scott's chief assistant from c.1923 to 1927, Edwin Maxwell Fry (1899-1987), may have had a hand in some of the early classical designs along with a team of young architects that went on to undertake the 1930s commissions. Fry is scathing about Scott in his autobiography, describing him as 'a lumbering Scotsman only waiting for the salmon rivers to rise' who 'fell into my hands like a ripe plum as by one of these sudden spurts of decisive action I took over the hotel design that was beyond him, and was installed by the Chief Engineer as his deputy and working factotum … and I immediately set about reinforcing the time-serving staff of old bodies with all the friends and acquaintances I could lay hold of. There was plenty of work and one by one I signed on an assortment of young men who transformed the place of lingering fears and deceptions…'

However, there is no direct evidence for Scott not being the architect of these stations, and much of Fry's biography, which Tremellen calls 'highly suspect' cannot be taken on trust.

Unusually Scott never became a full member of the RIBA, only becoming a Licentiate. He married in 1908 in Richmond, Surrey and in 1914 he was living at 29 Moormead Road, St Margarets-on-Thames. He died in Edinburgh in 1965.

(Biographical notes derived from text by Steven M Robb)

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
29 Moormead Road St Margarets-on-Thames London/Surrey England	Private

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Waterloo Station London England	Business	1923
11 Withdean Court, Preston Park Brighton Sussex England	Business	1940

row(s) 1 - 2 of 2

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
Southern Railway Architect's Department	206579	1923 or 1924 or 1925	After 1939	Chief Architect
London and South Western Railway Architect's Department	206578	In year 1907	1923 or 1924 or 1925	Chief Assistant
Leadbetter & Fairley	200734	c. 1900	c. 1905	Apprentice
Belcher & Joass	201658	c. 1905	In year 1907	Assistant	Latterly chief assistant

row(s) 1 - 4 of 4

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
Waterloo Station	In year 1909			London	England	Reconstruction - as chief architectural assistant

row(s) 1 - 1 of 1

The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Stamp, Gavin	The Architecture of Britain's Transport in the Twentieth Century	2004	New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Betjeman, John	London's Historic Railway Stations	1972	John Murray

row(s) 1 - 3 of 3

The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Scotsman	1914/05/06	*	Obituary of A R Scott
Architect and Building News	1938/06/03	*
Architecture Illustrated	1938/04	*
Architectural Design and Construction	1938/04	*
Architectural Design and Construction	1938/12	*	'Modernisation on the Southern Railway'

row(s) 1 - 5 of 5

The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Biographical Files	British Architectural Library, RIBA	100004
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041	Information from Steven Robb, English Heritage, a relative. Also information from Neil Brown
Architectural drawings, photographs, letters and documents in possession of the Robb family	Robb family archive	200735

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

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

Bib ref classic

Periodical References

Period ref classic

Archive References

Arc ref classic