Architects

Name:

Alexander Steele

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

20/12/1906

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

07/11/1980

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Bio Notes :

Alexander Steele was born in Bo'ness on 20 December 1906, the son of Bo'ness architect Matthew Steele. He attended the School of Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art from October 1921 whilst receiving 'office training', presumably in his father's practice. He was employed by Harold Ogle Tarbolton for three years, and subsequently worked as an assistant to James Bow Dunn. He passed the qualifying exam in June 1928 and was admitted ARIBA early the following year, his proposers being Dunn, Tarbolton and John Begg. At that date he was working in Dunn's office and living in the family home at 'The Quarry', Bo'ness. His travels prior to that date had been confined to Scotland and England.

Steele spent some time working for Nottingham and Cardiff Corporations and by 1950 had moved to work in the Education Department of Birmingham. He returned to Scotland in 1952 to take up the position of Depute City Architect, Alexander Forgie's successor-designate, and was Edinburgh City Architect from 1953 to 1972. He was elected FRIAS in 1956. In the post of City Architect he re-organised the department and built it up in skills as well as number. The Department dealt with a large housing programme which was to peak at nearly 3000 per year. Steele was keen to encourage design talent in the young architects working in his department and always insisted thatb the credit for individual jobs belinged to the architect directly responsible and that he himself was to be judged by the total result achieved in the whole building programme. He encouraged forward thinking. His obituarist, Stuart Harris, noted that 'in his last five years there was a happy coincidence between his personal enthusiasm for sport andf the creation of facilities for the 1970 Commonwealth Games'.

Steele died after a long illness 'courageously borne' on 11 July 1980. He was survived by his second wife and his daughter Jennifer whose mother, Steele's first wife, had died when her daughter was in her early 20s.

Steele presented a paper on 'Trends in House Design' at the annual conference of the Scottish National Housing and Town Planning Council at Peebles on March 15-16, 1957 (see Builder 5 April 1957, p638).

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
The Quarry Bo'ness / Borrowstouness West Lothian Scotland	Private
63 Pentland View Edinburgh Scotland	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Corporation Buildings Parliament Square, High Street Edinburgh 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
Edinburgh City Architect's Department (Edinburgh Corporation)	201964	1952/04/11			Senior Depute City Architect for Edinburgh, with salary of Â£2,000 per year
James Bow Dunn	200174	In year 1928		Assistant
Birmingham Education Department	100452	In year 1948	1952/04	Architect
Edinburgh City Architect's Department (Edinburgh Corporation)	201964	In year 1955	In year 1972	Chief Architect
Matthew Steele	203529	c. 1921	Before 1925	Apprentice	Probably began training in his father's office, but this is not certain
Harold Ogle Tarbolton	100213	c. 1925	c. 1928	Apprentice
Bradshaw Gass & Hope	200110			Assistant

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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
Harold Ogle Tarbolton	100213	Early 1929s	for Associateship
James Bow Dunn	200174	Early 1929s	for Associateship
John Begg	200375	Early 1929s	for Associateship

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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
Alexander ('Sandy') MacCallum (or McCallum) Brown	1968/07/17	For Fellowship

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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
Corporation Housing, Restalrig Avenue Housing Site	1953/11/27		Edinburgh	Scotland	Scheme of 28 houses
Corporation Housing Scheme, Main Drive	In year 1954	Colinton	Edinburgh	Scotland
Corporation Housing Scheme, Pirniefield Place and Seafield Avenue	In year 1954		Edinburgh	Scotland
Multi-Storey Flats, Comiston Housing Site	1954/04/02	Comiston	Edinburgh	Scotland	Approval given for multi-storey flats
Broomhouse Primary School	In year 1955	Broomhouse	Edinburgh	Scotland	As City Architect
Clermiston Housing Development	In year 1955	Clermiston	Edinburgh	Scotland	Scheme of 146 houses
St Cuthbert\'s RC High School	In year 1956		Edinburgh	Scotland
Block of buildings 34 High Street	In year 1956		Edinburgh	Scotland	As City Architect - recast interior
Primary School at West Pilton	In year 1957	West Pilton	Edinburgh	Scotland	per Builder 25 January 1957
Silverknowes Primary School	In year 1957	Silverknowes	Edinburgh	Scotland	Builder p209
Gracemount Secondary School	In year 1957		Edinburgh	Scotland	Designed in conjunction with Mr Alex Steele, City Architect
Hunter\'s Tryst Primary School	In year 1957	Fairmilehead	Edinburgh	Scotland	As City Architect
Drumbrae School	In year 1957	Corstorphine	Edinburgh	Scotland
Scheme of maisonettes, shops, garages and flats, Saughton Mains Gardens	1957/01/18	Saughton Mains	Edinburgh	Scotland	Builder p166
Southhouse Primary School	1957/01/25	Southhouse	Edinburgh	Scotland	Builder p209

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Notes
Glendinning, Miles	Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75	1997	Tuckwell Press Ltd	p25
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951	1950	London: Royal Institute of British Architects
Gifford, John, McWilliam, Colin and Walker, David M	Edinburgh (The Buildings of Scotland)	1984	Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd	p693

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Notes
Builder	1953/08/07	p228 - details Steele's imminent appointment as Edinburgh City Architect
Builder	1952/04/11	p542
Builder	1964/11/06	p1010
Builder	1957/04/05	p638 - includes photo of Mr. A. Steele
Builder	1955/02/18	p316
Builder	1953/11/27	p862
Builder	1954/04/02	p616
Builder	1954/04/09	p656

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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 no4340 (combined box 8), which includes an appreciation by S Harris, Depute City Architect.
Records of membership	RIAS, Rutland Square	201006

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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