Alexander Thomson
b. Balfron, Scotland, 1817;
d. Glasgow, I 1875.

Alexander Thomson was the last and most original of the few great Neo-Classic famous architects. Employed in architecture from the age of 14, he worked with John Baird from 1836 until he set up in his own practice in Glasgow in 1849. Thomson’s quest was for the timeless essence of classical architecture on to which he would build his forms for the third quarter of the C19. Technically his work is highly inventive but only to serve his rhetorical and formal goals in the manipulation of surfaces and spaces. The range of his invention is remarkable, stretching from endless decorative devices to the formal separation of the planes of structural columns and timber- framed glazing on the facades; the design of dynamically rhythmical facades and tightly geometric proportions; masterly interior effects of complex spaces through daring use of structure and subtle borrowed light. Uniquely among his contemporaries, Thomson’s buildings (the most original British architecture in the century between Soane and Mackintosh) fit their city context, clarifying the urban form of Glasgow.

Major buildings / works:
Double Villa and Holmwood Villa, Glasgow, 1856-7.
Caledonia Road and St Vincent Street churches, Glasgow, 1856.
Moray Place, Glasgow, c.1857.
Gaffney Building, Glasgow, 1860.
Queens Park Church and Great Western Terrace, Glasgow, 1867.
Ellisland Villa and the Egyptian Halls, Glasgow, 1871.

Bibliography:
Alexander Thomson, “An enquiry as to the appropriateness of the Gothic style…” (lecture given on 7 May 1866, most recently published in College Courant (Glasgow University), 6-7, 1954); “Four lectures on architecture” (to the Glasgow School of Art, 1874; The British Architect, 1 May, 5 June, 24 July, 30 Oct. and 20 Nov. 1874). J. McKean, “The Architectonics and Ideals of Alexander Thomson”, AA Files, London, No. 9, Summer 1985; “La Citt? di Alexander Thomson”, Glasgow Forma e Progetto della Clad, ed. R. Bocchi, Venice, 1990.