Basic Biographical Details Name: | (Professor) Ralph Cowan | Designation: | | Born: | 3 May 1917 | Died: | | Bio Notes: | (Professor) Ralph Cowan was born on 3 May 1919. He studied full-time at the School of Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art from 1933 to 1939. At some point during this period he spent a year gaining professional experience in the office of T P Marwick & Son, and he spent a month sketching in the Cotswolds in 1935 and another in France (Provence and Vaucluse) in 1938. He was a Rome Scholar in 1939, using the scholarship to prepare for a course in Town Planning. In the same year he took his professional practice exam, having secured an exemption from the RIBA final exam. He was admitted ARIBA on 16 July 1940, his proposers being Alfred Hugh Mottram, Frank Charles Mears and Alex Allan Foote. He was also AMTPI by 1950 and FRIAS in 1953. In the latter year he was Athens Bursar.
In 1948 Cowan joined Alan Reiach in a single-project partnership to design the new College of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh's King's Buildings site. During the 1940s and 1950s he was also a member of staff of Edinburgh College of Art. In the early 1950s he carried out the duties of the Head of Architecture School before being formally appointed Head of School and Professor at ECA in October 1955, with effect from 1 January 1956. Under Cowan, the ECA course was restructured as a 'sandwich' programme with full-time years flanking part-time study.
Cowan contributed a short history of the Edinburgh Architectural Assocation for the Centenary Year Book 1957. He was a vice-president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association in 1959. By 1964 he was practising as Ralph Cowan & Associates. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 18, Moston Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private(?) | 1950 * | | | | 10, Middleby Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1953 | | | | School of Architecture, Edinburgh college of Art/1, Melville Crescent, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1964 * | | | | School of Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1970 | | | | Lindon Park, by Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland | Private | 1979 * | | | | Dun-Ard Garden/ 3/3 , Grange Loan, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1987 * | 2010 | Still at this address 2010 |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Glendinning, Miles | 2008 | Modern architect: the life and times of Robert Matthew | | RIBA Publishing | p38,135,147,150,152,455 | | RIBA | 1950 | The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | | | RIBA | 1954 | RIBA Kalendar 1953-54 | | | | | RIBA | 1964 | The RIBA Kalendar 1963-64 | | | | | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | | | RIBA | 1979 | Directory of members | | | | | RIBA | 1987 | RIBA Directory of Members 1987 | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 3 May 1957 | | | p802 | | Builder | 1 May 1959 | | | 'Edinburgh Architectural Association' p832 | | Builder | 28 April 1961 | | | 'Edinburgh Architectural Association: A Lively 1961 Year Book' p830; the year book includes an article on the new architecture building at ECA |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | RIAS, Rutland Square | Records of membership | | | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | A no7622 (combined box 196) |
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