Colin McWilliam (1928–1989) was a British architecture academic and author.
Born in London, he graduated from the University of Cambridge and became Director of the Scottish National Buildings Record, then the Assistant Secretary of the National Trust for Scotland. He also directed architectural history and conservation at Edinburgh College of Art, and later Heriot-Watt University. He was a founder of the Dictionary of Scottish Architects Project, [1] and was instrumental in setting up the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland. [2]
Studying at the British School in Rome he returned to Scotland in 1951 to work with architect Stewart Kaye and with the National Building Record. [3]
From 1965 to 1972 McWilliam was a Council member of the influential Edinburgh conservationist group the Cockburn Association. [4]
In the 1970s, he was approached by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner who, having completed the series The Buildings of England , was keen to extend the project to cover the rest of the UK. McWilliam went on to co-write two volumes in The Buildings of Scotland series and became the project's editor.
He designed a desk and a bookcase incorporating copies of a portrait medallion of Robert Adam by James Tassie, for the Cabinet Room in Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland.
Colin McWilliam is commemorated on a plaque in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. He was the father of the author Candia McWilliam.
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, The Buildings of England (1951–74).
William Henry PlayfairFRSE was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century, who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town and many of Edinburgh's neoclassical landmarks.
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) is the professional body for architects in Scotland.
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.
David BryceFRSE FRIBA RSA was a Scottish architect.
The Grange is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill to the south. It is a conservation area characterised by large early Victorian stone-built villas and mansions, often with very large gardens. The Grange was built mainly between 1830 and 1890, and the area represented the idealisation of country living within an urban setting.
Ian Gordon Lindsay was a Scottish architect. He was most noted for his numerous restoration projects, sometimes of whole villages but curiously was also involved in the design of several hydro-electric power stations.
Gavin Mark Stamp was a British writer, television presenter and architectural historian.
Hippolyte Jean Blanc was a Scottish architect. Best known for his church buildings in the Gothic revival style, Blanc was also a keen antiquarian who oversaw meticulously researched restoration projects.
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published between 1951 and 1974. The series was then extended to Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the late 1970s. Most of the English volumes have had subsequent revised and expanded editions, chiefly by other authors.
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.
The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) is a society dedicated to the protection and study of the built heritage of Scotland. It has around 1000 members and five regional groups responsible for commenting on planning applications in their area together with educational activities. The Society publishes periodically the academic journal, Architectural Heritage, together with a twice-yearly magazine addressing a wider range of built heritage related matters.
Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA was a Scottish historian, author and scholar.
George Square is a city square in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in the south of the city centre, adjacent to the Meadows. It was laid out in 1766 outside the overcrowded Old Town, and was a popular residential area for Edinburgh's better-off citizens. In the 1960s, much of the square was redeveloped by the University of Edinburgh, although the Cockburn Association and the Georgian Group of Edinburgh protested. Most but not all buildings on the square now belong to the university. Principal buildings include the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh University Library, 40 George Square and Appleton Tower.
Architecture of Scotland in the Industrial Revolution includes all building in Scotland between the mid-eighteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. During this period, the country underwent an economic and social transformation as a result of industrialisation, which was reflected in new architectural forms, techniques and scale of building. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Edinburgh was the focus of a classically inspired building boom that reflected the growing wealth and confidence of the capital. Housing often took the form of horizontally divided tenement flats. Some of the leading European architects during this period were Scottish, including Robert Adam and William Chambers.
Bridget Cherry OBE, FSA, Hon. FRIBA is a British architectural historian who was series editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides from 1971 until 2002. She is the co-author of several Pevsner guides.
William Robertson was a Scottish architect. Born in Lonmay in Aberdeenshire, he started his career in Cullen, Moray, then moved to Elgin around 1821, where he practised for the rest of his life. He established himself as the foremost architect of his period north of Aberdeen, described by Charles McKean as "possibly the north of Scotland's first native classical architect of substance." His practice was continued by his nephews Alexander and William Reid, and then by their partners and successors J and W Wittet.
Alexander Esmé Gordon was a Scottish Modernist architect, writer, and painter who served as Secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy between 1973 and 1978.
Catherine Holway Cruft (1927-2015), known as Kitty, was a British art historian, preservationist and curator. She was an authority on the history of Scottish architecture.
Stewart Kaye FRIBA FRICS (1885–1952) was a Scottish architect in the 20th century. Working in a stripped down Scottish version of the Art Deco style he was consultant architect to the Presbytery of East Lothian and the Halifax Building Society. Mainly based in Edinburgh he is responsible for a large proportion of the city's housing estates from the 1930s.