Architects

Name:

Walter Neil Wilson Ramsay

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

01/11/1910

Year of Birth :

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Date of Birth Before (Year):

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DOB (1st 'Or' Year):

DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

15/03/1999

Year of Death:

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Bio Notes :

Walter Neil Wilson Ramsay was born on 1 November 1910, the son of Archibald Ramsay, railway office manager, and his wife Euphemia Craigie Mackenzie. In 1925 he began the diploma course at the School of Architecture, Glasgow College of Art where he spent three years as a day student and four years as a part-time student. He was employed by James Taylor Thomson & McCrea for four years during this period. He was awarded his Diploma in Architecture in 1933 and the Alexander Thomson Travelling scholarship in 1935, enabling him to carry out research in the British Schools in Rome and Athens for short periods of time the following two years. From 1936 to 1940 he was an assistant architect with Glasgow Corporation.

During World War II Ramsay saw active service, latterly in Syria. He spent three of the war years as garrison engineer. After demobilisation Ramsay returned to his post with Glasgow Corporation. He was admitted ARIBA on 6 May 1947, his proposers being William McCrea, William James Smith and Joseph Weekes and FRIAS in 1954. His obituary in the RIAS Newsletter indicates that he was also employed by Keppie & Henderson but his Nomination Papers make no mention of this. His address in 1950 was given as 42 Randolph Road, Jordanhill. It seems that he joined C J McNair & Elder briefly as partner (the name changing to C H McNair Elder & Ramsay)before setting up business on his own account.

One of Ramsay's first competition successes was the design submitted in conjunction with Gordon Biggar, then President of the Stirling Chapter of the RIAS for the Nigerian Government buildings. Their design was placed second.

In the 1950s Ramsay became a full-time lecturer at Glasgow School of Art. He subsequently had success in the competitions for the University of Edinburgh Medical Buildings and Glasgow Faculty of Arts Buildings. Ramsay then formed his own practice. He was elected FRIBA on 2 October 1968, proposed by William McCrea, William A P Jack and William John Fairweather.

Rmsay's work for the University of Glasgow was extensive and by 1975 he had designed buildings work £750,000; similarly for the University of Edinburgh his work totalled £6m.

In 'recent years' he gifted old GIA minute books which he had rescued after the closure of the Institute Rooms at the Art School to the RIAS archive.

Ramsay was married to fellow-architect Elizabeth Bell McLaren. He died on 15 March 1999 at Gartnavel General Hospital. He was survived by his wife and his son, Neil.

'Biography authored by the Dictionary of Scottish Architects Compilation Team.'

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
20 Wood Street Coatbridge Lanarkshire Scotland	Private
42 Randolph Road Jordanhill Glasgow Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
42 Randolph Road Jordanhill Glasgow Scotland	Private/business	1950	1999
529 Sauchiehall Street Charing Cross Glasgow Scotland	Business	1951
6 (or 5?) Magdala Mews Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1970	After 1981	Edinburgh branch office.
28 Walker Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1981		Branch office. HQ in Glasgow

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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
James Taylor Thomson & McCrea (or Thomson & Partner)	203745	In year 1925	c. 1930	Apprentice
Glasgow Office of Public Works Architectural Department (later Glasgow Corporation City Engineer's Department)	200165	In year 1936	In year 1940	Assistant
C J McNair Elder & Ridley	400724	In year 1951		Architect
C J McNair Elder & Ramsay	401326	In year 1952		Partner
(Professor) William James Smith	201070	Late 1930s		Assistant	Dates uncertain
Keppie & Henderson	201517			Assistant	Dates for this not clear, but probably in late 1940s.

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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
William McCrea	203743	1947/05/06	For Associateship
(Professor) William James Smith	201070	1947/05/06	For Associateship
Joseph Weekes	201497	1947/05/06	For Associateship
William McCrea	203743	1968/10/02	For Fellowship
William Archibald Park Jack	203739	1968/10/02	For Fellowship
William John Fairweather	201161	1968/10/02	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
Thomas Gibson	1970/10/07	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
Supreme Court	In year 1939		Lagos	Nigeria	Working in conjunction with Gordon Biggar Buchanan.
University of Edinburgh, Medical Buildings (Pharmacology Department and Hugh Robson Building)	In year 1951		Edinburgh, Midlothian	Scotland	Won competition
University of Edinburgh, Medical School and McEwan Hall	In year 1953		Edinburgh	Scotland	Won competition and Phases 1-4 carried out.
Glasgow University, Faculty of Arts Block	In year 1953		Glasgow	Scotland	Wins competition for design of new Faculty of Arts building. Construction completed about 1959.
Killermont Parish Church	In year 1955	Bearsden	Glasgow	Scotland	Church
Castlemilk East Church	In year 1956	Castlemilk	Glasgow	Scotland
St Modan's RC Primary School	In year 1957		Glasgow	Scotland
Parish Church	1957/01/25		Glasgow	Scotland	Builder p209
University of Edinburgh, Medical School and McEwan Hall	In year 1958		Edinburgh	Scotland	S extension. Perhaps at this time also added the central medical library.
University of Glasgow, Garscube Site, Veterinary Hospital & School	In year 1959	Garscube, Bearsden	Glasgow	Scotland	Wellcome Laboratories.
University of Glasgow, lecture theatres	1960s		Glasgow	Scotland
Housing for J Turner & Co.	1960s	Dalgety Bay	Fife	Scotland
University of Glasgow, hostels	1960s		Glasgow	Scotland
Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons	In year 1962		Glasgow	Scotland	Lecture theatre and library, including remodelling of the landing.
Queen Margaret Hall	In year 1962	Kirklee	Glasgow	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Notes
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951	1950	London: Royal Institute of British Architects
Glendinning, Miles	Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75	1997	Tuckwell Press Ltd	p4 University of Edinburgh Medical Schoolp16 Plan for redevelopment of the north side of George Square
RIBA	Directory of Practices 1981	1981

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder	1953/01/30		p188-191, 200
Builder	1953/01/09		p107
RIAS Newsletter	1999/06	v10, no5	Obituary
RIAS Newsletter	1999/04	v10, no3	Death note
Builder	1957/01/25		p209
Builder	1951/1/26		p155
Builder	1951/2/9		p196-9

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	F no6398 (Combined Box 137)
Records of membership	RIAS, Rutland Square	201006
Death Register	H M Register House	100027

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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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