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Basic Biographic Details

Baird & Thomson
Architectural practice
Year Only
1848
Year Only
1856
John Baird the Second was no relation of the first (John Baird 'Primus'), being born in November 1816 at Ayr, the son of Alexander Baird, shoemaker, and his wife Elizabeth Grange. About 1830 he was articled to James Watt, but after Watt's death in 1832 he completed his apprenticeship with John Herbertson. Thereafter he worked with John Fisher until Spring 1837 when he joined David and James Hamilton where he was very unusually allowed to put his name in the Directory. There he worked on Lennox Castle, the Clydesdale, Western, British Linen and Union Banks and in the Western Club: and at Hamilton Palace he worked on the Black Marble Stair and on the base of the mausoleum under the direct supervision of the Duke. In December 1843 David Hamilton died, his son James thereafter forming a partnership with his sister's husband James Smith, father of Madeline Hamilton Smith of murder trial fame. Within a few months however the partnership was sequestrated, possibly as a result of financial troubles over their development on the north side of Royal Exchange Square. James Hamilton then withdrew from the partnership; Smith carried on the practice on his own, possibly with his brother-in-law's assistance, and Baird commenced practice on his own. In 1846 Smith and Baird formed a partnership but this was not a success and by the beginning of 1848 Baird was practising on his own account at 112 Hope Street, Glasgow. On 21 September 1847, he married, at a double wedding, Jessie Nicholson, daughter of Michael Angelo Nicholson (died 1841) and granddaughter of the architect Peter Nicholson, the other bridegroom being Alexander Thomson, who married her sister Jane.

Alexander Thomson was born at Endrick Cottage, Balfron, on 9 April 1817, the seventeenth child of John Thomson and the ninth child of his second marriage to Elizabeth Cooper. John Thomson was the bookkeeper at Kirkman Finlay's cotton works there and had previously held a similar position at Carron Ironworks. Advancement with both firms was precluded by his strict Burgher beliefs which were shared by his wife: she had come to Balfron with her brother, the Rev John Cooper. The family was educated at home, partly by Cooper, but John Thomson died in 1824 and the family had to move from Balfron to the outskirts of Glasgow. Elizabeth died in 1828, leaving the family in the care of her son William, a brilliant classical scholar who was briefly professor of humanity at the University of Glasgow. In 1834 William Thomson moved to London as a missionary, leaving his brothers and sisters at his house at Hangingshaw. In the same year Alexander became a clerk in a Glasgow lawyer's office. There his drawing skills attracted the attention of a client, Robert Foote, who had inherited the large plasterer's business of David Foote & Son in 1827 and had commenced practice as an architect in 1830. Foote's architectural practice was small but in association with the decorative plasterwork side of his business he had amassed a magnificent library and a large collection of classical casts from which Thomson learned much in the two years he was articled to him. In 1836 a spinal complaint obliged Foote to withdraw from architectural practice and Thomson completed his articles with John Baird, remaining with him first as assistant and later as chief draughtsman when much of his time was spent on the unbuilt college on Woodlands Hill. In the early 1840s Thomson's younger brother George, born at Balfron on 26 May 1819 was also articled to Baird, after recovering from a respiratory complaint which had been thought to be consumption.

In 1849 Baird entered into partnership with his brother-in-law under the name Baird & Thomson. Within two years the partnership was extremely successful with a large clientele for medium-sized villas and terraces of cottages in Pollokshields, Shawlands, Crossmyloof, Cathcart, Langbank, Bothwell and Cove and Kilcreggan. At Cove and Kilcreggan they enjoyed the support of the builder, railway contractor and ironfounder John McElroy who commissioned Craig Ailey in 1850 and built a considerable number of other marine villas either speculatively or for clients. These early villas were generally either Gothic, sometimes with Pugin-derived details, or Italian Romanesque but a few, most notably Glen Eden at Cove, had very original elements which, as Gavin Stamp has shown, have their origins in the publications of the architectural historian and theorist James Fergusson.

In 1854 Thomson began designing in a picturesque asymmetrically composed pilastraded neo-Greek idiom which derived from Schinkel at Rockbank, Helensburgh and the Mossman studio on Cathedral Street. These were followed by the Scottish Exhibition Rooms in Bath Street which he and some architect friends built to provide a Scottish counterpart to the period courts in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. This decisive shift to the neo-Greek which would remain characteristic of him and by then had no counterpart either in Edinburgh or south of the Border was quickly followed by a change of partner. In 1856 the partnership of Baird & Thomson was amicably dissolved so that Thomson could form a separate practice with his brother George who may still have been in the office of John Baird Primus: the record is not absolutely clear. Baird thereafter practised alone from 112 West Regent Street.

Addresses

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

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2

AddressTypeDate FromDate ToNotes
112 Hope Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessIn year 1848c. 1853
132 Hope Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessc. 1853c. 1854
109 Hope Street Glasgow ScotlandBusinessc. 1854In year 1856

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
Alexander ThomsonPartnerIn year 1849In year 1856
John Baird the SecondPartnerIn year 1849In year 1856
William Porter MitchellAssistantIn year 1931In year 1934

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 Designs

BuildingPartnership GPRoleDate FromDate ToTown DistrictIslandCity CountyCountryNotes
Design for Unidentified Building with Galleried Interior on Iron columnsAc. 1849
AnchorageA1850sCoveDunbartonshireScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable--Check partnership
Design for Romanesque Church with CampanileA1850s
Seaton LodgeA1850sKilcregganDunbartonshireScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable
EllerlyA1850sKilcregganDunbartonshireScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable
CarradaleA1850sKilcregganDunbartonshireScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable
Blocks of Tenements, 37?-387 Sauchiehall StreetA1850sGlasgowScotlandAttribution undocumented but relief panels are the same as those on demolished warehouse in Howard Street
Villa, 26 Maxwell DriveA1850sPollokshieldsGlasgowScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds
Wodrow Monument, Eastwood Old CemeteryA1850sGlasgowScotlandAttribution undocumented but probable on stylistic grounds
Ivy Cave CottageA1850sCoveDunbartonshireScotland
The Knowe and LodgeAIn year 1850In year 1853PollokshieldsGlasgowScotlandOriginal house
Seymour LodgeAIn year 1850CoveDunbartonshireScotlandVilla and detached coach house
Cove Cottage, Semi-detached VillasAIn year 1850In year 1851CoveDunbartonshireScotland
Lincoln VillaAIn year 1851PollokshieldsGlasgowScotland
ArdsloyAIn year 1851KilcregganDunbartonshireScotlandAttribution undocumented but very likely

References