Architects

Name:

John Leck Bruce

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

16/10/1850

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

29/11/1921

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Bio Notes :

John Leck Bruce was born in Glasgow on 16 October 1850 the son of Robert Bruce, clerk, and his wife Jane, née Leck. Nothing is yet known of his professional training except that he trained as an architect. He commenced practice at 137 West Regent Street in 1871 or 1872 at the early age of twenty-one. In late 1874 or early 1875 he took David Sturrock into partnership, and worked as a consulting engineer to Glasgow Corporation. On 1 August 1877 he married Charlotte Florence Cochrane at the Hamilton Presbyterian Church in Birkenhead. There were three sons of their marriage: Robert, born in Greenock, (or Gourock? records not clear) and Charles and John, born in Glasgow.

In c.1876 the practice of Bruce & Sturrock moved to number 103 West Regent Street, and in 1877 or 1878 to number 184. The firm was sequestrated in 1878. Bruce was probably a Roman Catholic as from 1878 the practice began receiving smaller commissions from Archbishop Eyre, the larger ones being given almost exclusively to Peter Paul Pugin. Bruce was a juror on gas-cooking and gas-heating appliances at the Glasgow Gas and Electric Exhibition in 1880, and a member of the city's institute of architects and the philosophical society. There is no recorded work by Bruce & Sturrock after 1883: like so many others it must have suffered lack of business in the severe recession after the final call on the City of Glasgow Bank shareholders in 1881. Shortly thereafter Bruce emigrated to Sydney, New South Wales. He arrived in May 1887 and set up practice as a consulting engineer and architect. On 15 April 1889 he became a foreman of works in the government architect's branch of the Department of Public Works at a salary of £250. He was based at 1 Hereford Street, Globe Point, Sydney in 1895.

In May 1891 he was appointed first lecturer in sanitary engineering at Sydney Technical College, and devoted the rest of his professional life to developing the department. In 1901, with Dr T. M. Kendall, medical adviser to the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage, he published ‘The Australian Sanitary Inspector's Textbook … ‘. He was employed about this time as Australian examiner for the London Sanitary Institute, Sydney editor of the Building and Engineering Journal of Australia and New Zealand, assistant editor of the Australian Technical Journal (in which he had published an article on gas-lighting in March 1897), and president of the sanitary department's examining board. His textbook was reissued as the Australian Sanitary Inspector's Hand book (1920).

By 1912 Bruce was a member of the Royal Sanitary Institute; in 1914 he was on the editorial advisory committee of the Technical Gazette of New South Wales and in 1912-17 contributed articles about ventilation, moisture and temperature control of air, and the lighting of dwellings and factories. He devised simple instruments for use by factory inspectors in determining whether air and lighting conformed to the requirements of the Factories Act. He also wrote an introductory chapter to Practical Australian Sanitation (vol.1), by Dr C. Savill Willis. On his retirement in 1920 he was made a fellow of the Technical College.

On 29 November 1921 Bruce died of cerebral thrombosis at Blakehurst, Sydney, and was buried in the Presbyterian section of South Head cemetery. He was survived by his wife, two sons and two married daughters.

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
Sydney Australia	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
137 West Regent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1872	After 1875
103 West Regent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1877
184 West Regent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1878
103 West Regent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1879	1881	Conflict in addresses as PO Directories show practice at 103 West Regent Street 1877-81 but GIA show they were at 184 West Regent Street in 1878
Sydney Australia	Private/business	1887
19 Stanley Street Glasgow 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	Notes
Bruce & Sturrock	200313	Early 1874s	In year 1883	Partner
Department of Public Works, New South Wales	205593	In year 1889		Clerk of Works

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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
Stewart Memorial fountain for Wellington Park	In year 1873	Kelvingrove	Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design
Proposed West Coast Residence	In year 1873		Renfrewshire	Scotland
Bath Street UP Church	In year 1874		Glasgow	Scotland
Proposed hotel, West Regent Street and West Campbell Street	In year 1874		Glasgow	Scotland
Design for school and teacher's house	In year 1874
Wellington Place Baptist Church	In year 1875		Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design - not successful
Arlington Baths Club	In year 1875		Glasgow	Scotland	Involved in construction of 1875 Turkish Suite extension, along with Charles Drake
St John's Free Church	In year 1877	Gourock	Renfrewshire	Scotland	Addition of crown spire
RC Church, School and Presbytery	In year 1878		Glasgow	Scotland
RC Schoolhouse, 44 Grant Street and Argyle Street	In year 1879	Helensburgh	Dunbartonshire	Scotland
Crosshouse Established Church and Manse	In year 1880	Crosshouse, Kilmarnock	Ayrshire	Scotland
St Aloysius RC Church and Presbytery	In year 1881	Springburn	Glasgow	Scotland	Church rebuilt
Uddingston RC Chapel School	In year 1882		Glasgow	Scotland
Laigh Kirk Mission Hall	In year 1883	Kilmarnock	Ayrshire	Scotland
Port Glasgow RC School	In year 1883	Port Glasgow	Renfrewshire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date
Post Office Directories
Australian Dictionary of Biography	Australian Dictionary of Biography
Technical Education in New South Wales	Quarter Century of Technical Education in New South Wales	1909

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Australian Technical Journal	1897/03
Sanitary Inspectors\' Association (New South Wales	1912		Official report no I
Technical Gazette of New South Wales			4 (1914), 6 (1916), 7 (1917), 12 (1922).
Edinburgh Gazette	1878/08/20	no.8923	p.638

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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

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Periodical References

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