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Basic Biographic Details
Name:
(Professor) Gerald Baldwin Brown
Designation :
Architect
Date of Birth:
Exact Date
Exact DOB:
31/10/1849
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:
13/08/1925
Year of Death:
1932
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 :
Gerald Baldwin Brown was born in London on 31 October 1849, the son of the Rev James Baldwin Brown of Brixton Independent Chapel. He was educated at Uppingham School and at Oriel College Oxford. In 1880 he was appointed first Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art at Edinburgh University, publishing in 1886 the influential book 'From Schola to Cathedral' which brought him election as Hon ARIBA in the following year. From 1885 he was closely involved with the newly founded Edinburgh Social Union and other Patrick Geddes-promoted enterprises; he took an active part in the Edinburgh meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Art in 1889, being President of the Section of Museums and National and Municipal Encouragement of Art. In his presidential address he criticised the Department of Science and Art and called for the establishment of an Academy of Architects and the Arts of Decoration 'to correspond to the already existing Royal Scottish Academy, which would then confine its attentions to the care of Painting and Sculpture', a concept which in teaching terms at least quickly became a reality in Rowand Anderson's School of Applied Art. As Watson Gordon Professor he exercised significant architectural patronage, advising Principal William Peterson at McGill University, Montreal on the appointment of Stewart Henbest Capper, Percy Erskine Nobbs and Ramsay Traquair to be Macdonald Chair in Architecture in 1896, 1903 and 1911 respectively.
The major work of Baldwin Brown's life was 'The Arts in Early England', published between 1903 and 1937, but he was also responsible for an influential book, 'The Care of Ancient Monuments', which appeared in 1905. In 1908 he published 'The Glasgow School of Painters' and as the Glasgow Boys were then in the ascendant with Sir James Guthrie as president, The Royal Scottish Academy elected him HRSA and Professor in 1911. He retained the Watson Gordon chair until he was eighty, retiring in 1930. He died on 12 July 1932; his wife Maud Annie Terrell had predeceased him a year earlier. They had no family.
Bio Notes continued...
Additional Notes
Addresses
The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:
Business Addresses
Business Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From
Date From Type
Date To
Date To Type
Notes
University of Edinburgh Edinburgh Scotland
Business
row(s) 1 - 1 of 1
RIBA Proposals
This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic
Person
Date Proposed
Notes
Henry Francis Kerr
1889/06/03
for Associateship - as President of the Edinburgh Architectural Association
row(s) 1 - 1 of 1
References
Bibliographic References
The following books contain references to this person:
Bib ref classic
Author
Title
Date
Publisher
Part
Notes
Wagg, Susan
Percy Erskine Nobbs: archtect, artist, craftsman
1982
Kingston
Murray, Irena (ed.)
Percy Erskine Nobbs and his associates: A Guide to the Archive
1986
Montreal
McEwan, P J M
Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture
1994
New DNB
New Dictionary of National Biography
Murray, Irena
Ramsay Traquair and his successors: A Guide to the Archive
1987
Montreal
row(s) 1 - 5 of 5
Periodical References
The following periodicals contain references to this person:
Period ref classic
Periodical Name
Publisher
Date Circ
Edition
Notes
Transactns of Nat Assoc for the Advancement of Art
1890
Edinb mtg, 1889
Proceedings of the British Academy
*
v21
pp 375-84
Bulletin of the Soc for Study of Arch in Canada
1996/09
v21, no3
row(s) 1 - 3 of 3