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Practices

Basic Biographic Details

Gillespie Kidd & Coia
Architectural practice
Year Only
1927
Year Only
1987
William Alexander Kidd was born in Greenock in 1879, the son of William Kidd, ironmonger and his wife Margaret Colquhoun Barr. He joined the practice of James Salmon & Son in 1898 as an apprentice and studied at Glasgow School of art from that year until 1902, also attending classes at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College. He became chief draughtsman in the Salmon practice sometime before 1911, by which time the firm had become Salmon Son & Gillespie. He remained with John Gaff Gillespie after the latter took charge of the practice following the death of William Forrest Salmon, and Gillespie took him into partnership in 1918. When Gillespie died on 7 May 1926, leaving estate of £1,950 4s 11d to his wife Agnes, Kidd was his executor and became sole partner.

Jack Antonio Coia (born 1898) had been taken on by Gillespie as an apprentice in October 1915 at a salary of 4 shillings a week with no demand for a premium, and had subsequently worked with Alexander Nisbet Paterson and Alexander Hislop in Glasgow, and with Herbert A Welch and Hollis in London, before returning to Glasgow in 1927. On hearing he was back in Glasgow, Kidd appealed to him to return to assist in the reconstruction of the Smith warehouse as the Ca' d'Oro, for which Gillespie had left only sketch designs. Kidd died in 1928 while the work was in progress and Coia inherited the practice, which now became Gillespie Kidd and Coia, but there was little business apart from the fitting of Leon's shop at 89 St Vincent Street, and Coia joined the teaching staff of Glasgow School of Art.

In 1931 Coia approached Archbishop Donald Mackintosh for work on the programme of church extension then planned. This resulted in a series of important brick-built church commissions of continental inspiration and in about 1938, his senior assistant T Warnett Kennedy was taken into partnership. Kennedy was born c.1913 and articled to Coia in about 1927, after a brief spell with James Austen Laird. He returned to Coia thereafter, and remained with him apart from a short period with Honeyman and Jack. As a student he had been editor of the magazine 'Vista' published quarterly which included articles by Hans Poelzig, Ragnar Ostberg, R H Wilenski and other major names of the 1930s. Coia and Kennedy worked closely together but in Kennedy's words 'Jack thought with his fingers. He sketched at lightning speed. I pontificated on the emergence of abstract art … During the 1938 British Empire Exhibition we slept on the floor of the office an average of three nights a week.'

In 1939 Coia married Eden Bernard. Earlier in the same year he was commissioned to design Knightswood Secondary School and complete Gillespie’s Municipal Buildings at Stirling but both these projects were cancelled. When Italy entered the war in 1940, Coia briefly lost control of his office and practice at 239 St Vincent Street. The Salmon Son & Gillespie records were lost to salvage at that point but he did manage to retain those relating to his own practice from 1927. He quickly re-established himself under the same practice title at 199 Bath Street. Although admitted FRIBA on 20 May 1941, lack of business obliged him to retrench, combining house and office at 7 Hamilton Drive. In the later war years his income came mainly from work in the family café, such free time as he had being spent on obtaining a degree in town planning.

In 1945 Sam Bunton asked Coia to help with repairing war damage in Clydebank, Kennedy having earlier been asked to help at Dumbarton. This enabled him to restart the practice, taking on as apprentice Isi Metzstein, who was a refugee, and for a time his own brother John. In 1948 the practice moved out of Hamilton Drive to 19 Waterloo Street and in 1954 Andrew MacMillan joined the practice from East Kilbride Development Corporation. In 1956 both house and office moved to 20 Park Circus, and in the course of the move a burst water pipe destroyed most of the practice drawings. (At this time John Peter Coia, Jack's much younger brother, was working in the practice, having undertaken his apprenticeship there from 1933 to 1938.) Thereafter Metzstein and MacMillan undertook most of the design work. The last important building in which Coia had a major hand was St Charles, Kelvinside, where his design was developed by Andrew MacMillan and Joe Taylor.

Coia was elected ARSA in 1954 and full academician in 1962. He was appointed CBE in 1967 and awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1969 followed by honorary degrees from the universities of Glasgow (1970) and Strathclyde (1976). In person he was in Patrick Nuttgens's words 'small, intense, unkempt, angry and bloody-minded', mainly as a result of wartime experiences and the post-war decision not to complete the Stirling Municipal Buildings as Gillespie had designed them. The poverty of contemporary architecture, dissatisfaction with the competition system and the destruction of some of his favourite buildings also coloured his outlook in his later years, his views being trenchantly expressed at the Royal Fine Art Commission of which he was for a time a member. In his retirement he spent much of his time at Glendaruel. He died on 14 August 1981, the funeral homily being preached by his pupil Father Kenneth Nugent SJ.

Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this architectural practice:

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2

AddressTypeDate FromDate ToNotes
2 Clifton Street Glasgow ScotlandPrivateIn year 1939In year 1942
7 Hamilton Drive Glasgow ScotlandPrivate/businessIn year 1942In year 1948

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2

AddressTypeDate FromDate ToNotes
38 Bath Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1927
144 St Vincent Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1928In year 1934
239 St Vincent Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1936In year 1940
199 Bath Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1940In year 1941
7 Hamilton Drive Glasgow ScotlandPrivate/businessIn year 1942In year 1948
19 Waterloo Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1948In year 1956
20 Park Circus Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1956In year 1976
227 Ingram Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1979

Partners, Employees and Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this architectural practice (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2

NamePositionDate FromDate ToNotes
Jack Antonio CoiaPartnerIn year 1927In year 1981
Duncan McCulloch (junior)ApprenticeIn year 1927In year 1930
William Alexander KiddPartnerIn year 1927In year 1928
T Warnett KennedyApprenticec. 1927c. 1930
Duncan McCulloch (junior)Junior AssistantIn year 1930In year 1932Chief Junior Assistant
T Warnett KennedyAssistantAfter 1930c. 1938
Alexander Buchanan CampbellApprenticeIn year 1931In year 1934
Ronald McPherson Watson YoungChief Draughtsman1931/08In year 1935
Richard Alan WebberAssistantIn year 1932In year 1934
Alan John CarruthersApprenticeIn year 1933Before 1939
John Peter CoiaApprenticeIn year 1933In year 1938three months spent in office each year during college vacations
Colin Macaulay MiddletonAssistant1933/051933/09
Helen Lily Jackson (Mrs Johnston)AssistantIn year 1934In year 1935
James KirkwoodApprentice1936/051939/09
Alexander Buchanan CampbellAssistantc. 1936/05c. 1936/09

Buildings and Designs

This architectural practice was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2

BuildingPartnership GPRoleDate FromDate ToTown DistrictIslandCity CountyCountryNotes
Ca' d'Oro RestaurantAAfter 1927Before 1941GlasgowScotlandExtension
Shop for LeonAIn year 1928GlasgowScotland
F & J Smith Furniture WarehouseBIn year 1929In year 1929GlasgowScotlandExtension (on Union Street) and insertion of restaurant and ballroom (firm changed from Gillespie & Kidd to Gillespie Kidd & Coia in course of construction)
St Anne's RC Church and PresbyteryAArchitectural practiceIn year 1931In year 1933DennistounGlasgowScotland
St Patrick's RC Church and PresbyteryAIn year 1934In year 1935GreenockRenfrewshireScotland
BrierlandsAIn year 1936BusbyLanarkshireScotland
RC ChurchAIn year 1936DuntocharDunbartonshireScotland
St Peter-in-Chains RC ChurchAArchitectural practiceIn year 1936In year 1937ArdrossanAyrshireScotlandMainly by Kennedy
Super cinemaAIn year 1937MusselburghMidlothianScotland
St Columba's RC ChurchAArchitectural practiceIn year 1938In year 1939GlasgowScotland
RC SchoolAIn year 1938GovanhillGlasgowScotland
Glasgow Empire Exhibition, post officeAIn year 1938BellahoustonGlasgowScotland
Stirling Municipal BuildingsCIn year 1938In year 1939StirlingStirlingshireScotlandProposed completion of building as designed by John Gaff Gillespie: contractors' huts erected 1939, but project abandoned due to World War II
Knightswood Senior Secondary SchoolAIn year 1938c. 1941GlasgowScotland
Glasgow Empire Exhibition, RC Chapel and PavilionAIn year 1938BellahoustonGlasgowScotland

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this architectural practice:

Bib ref

AuthorTitleDatePublisherPartNotes
Sharp, DennisJack Coia1969Country Life19 June 1969
Williamson, Riches, HiggsGlasgow (The Buildings of Scotland)1990p344
Miles Glendinning, Diane Watters, David WhithamDocomomo Scotland Leafletp226, p229, St Peter's Seminary and Cumbernauld Residential zone images
Glendinning, MilesRebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75 1997Tuckwell Press Ltdp5 St Lawrence, Greenockp6 image St Lawrence, Greenockp28 Bellshill Maternity Hospitalpp32, 86, 116, 119, 132-40, 149-50, 153, 170 Cardross Seminaryp36 BOAC Officep38-9p41 Robinson Collegep60 Kildrum Ip129-140p156 St Paul's, Glenrothesp170-1 Cumbernauld Original Housing Areasp172 Kildrum Primary Schoolp173 St Bride'sp178 St Lawrence's, Greenock
Worsdall, Frank[Article on Jack Coia]1967Scotland's MagazineAugust 1967
Rogerson, R W K CJack Coia: his life and work1986Glasgow: privately published
Gillespie Kidd and CoiaMac Journal One1994
Watters, DianeCardross Seminary: Gillespie Kidd and Coia and the architecture of postwar Catholicism1997RCAHMS
Pride, Glen LThe Kingdom of Fife1999The Rutland Press2nd Editionp82
Walker, Frank ArneilSouth Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to Inverclyde and Renfrew1986p116, p125
Rodger, Johnny (ed.)Gillespie Kidd & Coia, Architecture 1956-872007RIAS et al.
Willis, PeterNew architecture in Scotland1977p7p11 BOAC Offices, Glasgowp34-5 Our Lady of Good Council, Glasgowp36-7 St Margaret's Church, Glasgowp56-9 St Peter's Seminary

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this architectural practice:

Period ref

Periodical NamePublisherDate CircEditionNotes
Builder1953/01/09p108
Builder1952/10/31p640
Builder1953/02/06p257
Builder1953/02/27p360
Builder1951/10/19p536
Builder1950/7/7p45
Builder1954/08/06p240
Builder1954/01/29p240
Builder1953/10/02p525
Builder1964/05/08p963-964
Builder1950/8/18p232
Builder1950/12/15p649
Builder1954/05/14p870
Builder1952/10/10p529
Builder1949/8/5p184

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this architectural practice:

Arc ref

Archive NameSourceSource Cat NoBuildingItem NameNotes
RIBA Nomination PapersRIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert MuseumF no3825 (box 29) (Coia)
Information via websiteSaul Metzstein