Alexander McGill (architect)

Last updated

Alexander McGill (died 1734) was a Scottish mason and architect, who worked in partnership with fellow architect James Smith. His work was influenced by that of Sir William Bruce, and some of his designs later appeared in William Adam's Vitruvius Scoticus. [1]

The son of George McGill, a mason in Arbirlot, Angus, he was apprenticed in June 1697 to Alexander Nisbet, a mason in Edinburgh. By 1710 he had been admitted into the mason's lodge, and he is known to have visited London on at least one occasion (in 1717). [1]

From 1699 McGill was involved on work at Kellie Castle, Angus, in association with Alexander Edward, and from 1700 with Smith at Yester House in East Lothian. At the House of Nairn, McGill completed William Bruce's design after the latter's death. [1]

His own designs include those of Donibristle House in Fife, Blair Drummond (1715–17), which was demolished in 1870, and a town house for James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose in Glasgow's Drygate (demolished 1855). McGill designed the original Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute for John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, which was later remodelled by William Adam, before burning down, leaving only McGill's pavilions. [2]

McGill also designed several churches, including the New Kirk in Dumfries, and Newbattle Parish Church (1727). [1]

In November 1720 McGill became the first City Architect of Edinburgh, with a salary of £50 a year, at least until the pay was discontinued during lean times in 1725. [1] He carried out various minor public works in the city, until 1729 after which no further mention of him occurs in the city records. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Adam</span> British neoclassical architect (1728–1792)

Robert Adam was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Rowand Anderson</span> Scottish architect

Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, was a Scottish Victorian architect. Anderson trained in the office of George Gilbert Scott in London before setting up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his main work was small churches in the 'First Pointed' style that is characteristic of Scott's former assistants. By 1880 his practice was designing some of the most prestigious public and private buildings in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Stuart House</span> Category A listed building on the Isle of Bute, Scotland

Mount Stuart House, on the east coast of the Isle of Bute, Scotland, is a country house built in the Gothic Revival style and the ancestral home of the Marquesses of Bute. It was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson for the 3rd Marquess in the late 1870s, replacing an earlier house by Alexander McGill, which burnt down in 1877. The house is a Category A listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Adam (architect)</span> Scottish architect, mason, and businessman

William Adam was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. He was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland, designing and building numerous country houses and public buildings, and often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, and Duff House in Banff. His individual, exuberant style built on the Palladian style, but with Baroque details inspired by Vanbrugh and Continental architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bryce</span> Scottish architect (1803 - 1876)

David BryceFRSE FRIBA RSA was a Scottish architect.

John Adam was a Scottish architect, building contractor and supervisor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bruce (architect)</span> Scottish architect (c. 1630–1710)

Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Smith (architect, died 1731)</span> Scottish architect

James Smith was a Scottish architect, who pioneered the Palladian style in Scotland. He was described by Colen Campbell, in his Vitruvius Britannicus (1715–1725), as "the most experienced architect of that kingdom".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mylne (died 1621)</span>

John Mylne was a Scottish master mason, the first of three successive generations of the name to serve as Master Mason to the Crown of Scotland. He was born in Dundee into a family of master builders. His great-grandfather, also John, had been Master Mason to both James III and James IV. He was the son of Thomas Mylne, Master Mason to the Crown and burgess of Dundee. His grandfather may have been Robert Mylne former provost of Dundee.

James Murray of Kilbaberton, (d.1634), was a Scottish master wright and architect. He served as the King's Master of Works under James VI, and Charles I. He was one of the first men in Scotland to be called an architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wallace (mason)</span>

William Wallace was a Scottish master mason and architect. He served as King's Master Mason under James VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mylne (died 1667)</span> Scottish master mason and architect, died 1667

John Mylne, sometimes known as "John Mylne junior", or "the Younger", was a Scottish master mason and architect who served as Master Mason to the Crown of Scotland. Born in Perth, he was the son of John Mylne, also a master mason, and Isobel Wilson.

Alexander Edward was a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church who later became a draughtsman, architect and landscape designer. He was a stylistic follower of Sir William Bruce, and planned several gardens in the grand French axial manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craigiehall</span> Country house in City of Edinburgh, Scotland

Craigiehall is a late-17th-century country house, which until 2015 served as the Headquarters of the British Army in Scotland. It is located close to Cramond, around 9 km (5.6 mi) west of central Edinburgh, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mylne (mason)</span> Scottish stonemason and architect (1633–1710)

Robert Mylne was a Scottish stonemason and architect. A descendant of the Mylne family of masons and builders, Robert was the last Master Mason to the Crown of Scotland, a post he held from 1668 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mavisbank House</span>

Mavisbank is a country house outside Loanhead, south of Edinburgh in Midlothian, Scotland. It was designed by architect William Adam in collaboration with his client, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, and was constructed between 1723 and 1727. The first Palladian villa in Scotland, it is described by Historic Scotland as "one of Scotland's most important country houses". It was altered in the 19th century, but suffered decades of neglect in the 20th century. The interiors were gutted by fire in 1973, and the house remains a ruin. As of May 2009, plans exist to partially restore the building and manage the estate as a community asset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Scotland</span> Overview of the architecture of Scotland

The architecture of Scotland includes all human building within the modern borders of Scotland, from the Neolithic era to the present day. The earliest surviving houses go back around 9500 years, and the first villages 6000 years: Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkney being the earliest preserved example in Europe. Crannogs, roundhouses, each built on an artificial island, date from the Bronze Age and stone buildings called Atlantic roundhouses and larger earthwork hill forts from the Iron Age. The arrival of the Romans from about 71 AD led to the creation of forts like that at Trimontium, and a continuous fortification between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde known as the Antonine Wall, built in the second century AD. Beyond Roman influence, there is evidence of wheelhouses and underground souterrains. After the departure of the Romans there were a series of nucleated hill forts, often utilising major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dunbarton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Crichton</span> Scottish architect

Richard Crichton was a Scottish architect operating in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was described as "competent and versatile".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Roos</span>

Alexander Roos was an Italian-born British architect and urban planner. He was the architect to the Bute Estates in South Wales, for which he designed many buildings and laid out several areas of Cardiff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Falkland</span> Architectural structure in Scotland

The House of Falkland, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a 19th-century country house and has been one of the homes of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and the Crichton-Stuart family. The house has been designed in the 19th-century revival of late 16th and early 17th-century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles called Jacobethan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Colvin, pp.530-531
  2. Colvin, pp.530-531, Fleming, p.331
  3. Fleming, p.331