Architects

Name:

T Scott Sutherland

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

13/01/1899

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

13/06/1963

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Bio Notes :

Thomas (Tom) Scott Sutherland was born in Torry, Aberdeen, the son of Robert William Sutherland, fisherman in a steam trawler and Annie Hutchinson Scott, on 13 January 1899. He was educated at the School of Architecture, Robert Gordon's College under Thomas Harold Hughes from 1916, and entered the office of John Alexander Ogg Allan in 1918. He received his diploma and a scholarship in 1921, and was awarded his post-diploma in June 1923, commencing practice as a principal at 13 Bridge Street, Aberdeen, in partnership with civil engineer I D McAndrew in that month. He passed the qualifying exam in London in October the same year and was admitted ARIBA on 3 March 1924, his proposers being John Alexander Ogg Allan, Robert Gordon Wilson Junior and John Wilson Walker. His partnership with McAndrew was dissolved that year, Sutherland continuing on his own account at the same address.

From at least 1927 to 1933 Sutherland was operating in partnership with a former fellow apprentice in Allan's office, William Logan Taylor, at 9 The Square, Huntly, as T Scott Sutherland & Taylor. He appears to have concurrently continued his own separate practice in Aberdeen, however, as he was registered with both home and office at 10 Albyn Place in 1930 when he was admitted FRIBA, his proposers being Allan, James Brown Nicol and Robert Gordon Wilson Junior. At that time he was also a member of the Council of the Aberdeen Society of Architects. His RIBA nomination papers state that prior to that date he had been responsible for 22 schools for the County Education Authority (District 5), to which he had been appointed architect in 1927, as well as some 250 private houses. The year before his admittance as FRIBA, Sutherland had married Edith Iris Webber, daughter of William G Webber.

Early in life Sutherland lost a leg but overcame the disability to become a good tennis player, swimmer, cricketer and fisherman and preferred a motorcycle to a car; he was also an expert bridge player and a leading member of the Aberdeen Magical Society.

Sutherland specialised in cinema and house design and was as much a businessman as an architect. He was a director of some forty companies in and around Aberdeen, notably Caledonian Associated Cinemas of which he was one of the founders; James Allan & Company of which he was chairman; and Modern Homes Ltd., the housing developments of which were sold from his office (he boasted that he once sold three within twenty minutes). His office was also for a time the Aberdeen branch of Scottish Amicable until he built their office c.1933. And his practice was unique in that the staff were expected to carry out other work when new commissions were few and they were somewhat underemployed. In the 1920s and early 1930s Sutherland lived at Beechgrove House, but he sold it to the BBC. He then bought Garthdee House with the long-term intention of giving it to the School of Architecture at Gray's.

Sutherland was elected progressive councillor for Ruthrieston in 1934 and was appointed housing convener. He was responsible for the competition for Kincorth Housing Scheme in 1936, won by R Gardner Medwin, and encouraged the Viennese design of the Council housing at Rosemount Square begun in 1938. By the end of his first year as Housing Convenor he had increased the number of council houses being built from 250 to 800 per year. By 1946 a quarter of Aberdeen's population had been re-housed with 7,000 slum houses demolished and 8,500 new houses built.

In 1941 he was divorced from his wife Iris, having separated earlier. In 1948 on a slow boat to China he met Georgina Buchanan, the young secretary to the Governor of Hong Kong: they married in 1950. About this time Sutherland carried out his intention of giving Garthdee to the School of Architecture with a substantial endowment. It opened in 1956 and took his name. After his death, his wife continued to support the school and a library at the current Robert Gordon University which stands on the site of the Garthdee estate, was dedicated to her.

In the mid-1950s Scott Sutherland appears to have been working under the practice title of Thomas Scott Sutherland & Partners.

Sutherland died on 13 June 1963 in Aberdeen. His practice was continued by Denis Michael Alastair Shewan as Scott Sutherland Design Associates.

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
28 Salisbury Terrace Aberdeen Scotland	Private
10 Albyn Place Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business
Polmuir House Ferryhill Aberdeen Scotland	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
13 Bridge Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business
232a Union Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business
10 Albyn Place Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business
Beechgrove House Fountainhall Road Aberdeen Scotland	Business
252 Union Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business

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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
Sutherland & McAndrew	204684	1923/06	In year 1924	Partner
Sutherland & Taylor	207688	Before 1927	After 1933	Partner
Thomas Scott Sutherland & Partners	402077	Before 1953	After 1954	Partner
John Alexander Ogg Allan	200016	In year 1918	In year 1921	Apprentice

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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
Ruth Knox Jackson	204492	1923 or 1924	1926 or 1927	Apprentice
William Halkerston	100475	1927/09/09	1930/09/08	Apprentice
James Munro	200649	1933/12	After 1934	Assistant
William Halkerston	100475	1934/04	1934/06	Assistant
William Alexander Wood	205616	After 1931	Before 1941	Assistant
William George Whyte	205387	In year 1922	In year 1925	Apprentice
Robert Smart Brown	204323	In year 1925	In year 1928	Apprentice
Frank Maxwell Hutchinson	204766	In year 1927	In year 1930	Apprentice
Ruth Knox Jackson	204492	In year 1927	In year 1928	Assistant	Part-time whilst completing her studies
Jessie Elizabeth Kennedy (Mrs Bassett)	100514	In year 1928	In year 1931	Apprentice
James Rattray Riddell	204739	In year 1931	1939/03	Chief Assistant
James Conner	400128	In year 1933	In year 1936	Apprentice

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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
John Alexander Ogg Allan	200016	1924/03/03	for Associateship
John Wilson Walker	200931	1924/03/03	for Associateship
Robert Gordon Wilson (junior)	200928	1924/03/03	for Associateship
John Alexander Ogg Allan	200016	Mid 1930s	for Fellowship
Robert Gordon Wilson (junior)	200928	Mid 1930s	for Fellowship
James Brown Nicol	203500	Mid 1930s	for Fellowship

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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
Frank Maxwell Hutchinson	Early 1932s	for Associateship
Robert George Will	1934/01/08	for Associateship
William Halkerston	1935/02/11	for Associateship
Jessie Elizabeth Kennedy (Mrs Bassett)	1935/03/11	for Associateship
Lionel Ethelbert Knight	1935/05/13	for Associateship
Frederick George Grant Angus	Mid 1935s	for Associateship
Chessor Lille Matthew	1936/05/11	for Associateship
James Conner	1940/03/12	For Associateship
Duncan James Johnston Wright	1941/10/21	for Associateship
James Hunter	1943/02/16	for Licentiateship
Gordon Stansfield Esslemont	1944/12/12	For Associateship
Robert Archibald Hendry	1947/02/11	For Licentiateship

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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
Housing scheme	After 1923	Fraserburgh	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Nicoll Hospital	After 1923	Rhynie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Water supply scheme	After 1923	Rhynie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Russell Institute and Library	After 1923	Insch	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Bungalow Duthrie Terrace	In year 1926		Aberdeen	Scotland
Twelve Flatted Houses	In year 1926	Fraserburgh	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Regal Cinema	In year 1927		Aberdeen	Scotland
Schoolhouse	In year 1929	Clatt	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Broomhill Estate	c. 1930		Aberdeen	Scotland	From about 1930 onwards
School	In year 1931	Rhynie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Extension
Regent Cinema	In year 1932		Aberdeen	Scotland
Amicable House	In year 1933		Aberdeen	Scotland
George Street Cinema	In year 1933		Aberdeen	Scotland
250-252 Union Street	In year 1933		Aberdeen	Scotland
Victoria Cinema	In year 1934	Inverurie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher
McKean, Charles	The Scottish Thirties: An Architectural Introduction	1987	Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press
Scottish Biographies		1938	E J Thurston (pub.)
Sutherland, T S	Fat went West	1956
Sutherland, T Scott	Life on one leg	1957
Morgan, Diane	The life and times of Tommy Scott Sutherland	1976	The Leopard, 7-part series of articles, Dec/Jan 1975-July/August 1976

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Scotsman		2014/06/03		Obituary of Georgina Scott Sutherland (born 28 November 1918, died 14 May 2014)

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Building Id	Item Name	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005			A no3759 (microfilm reel 28); F no2794 (box 12)
Collection of plans, manuscripts etc	Robert Gordon's University Archive	200743			Several photo albums, newscuttings and other memorabilia relating to busines and personal life

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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 Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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