Alexander Thomson - Scottish Architect : Information

Key Projects Greek Thomson Buildings - Famous Scottish Works photo © Adrian Welch St Vincent Street Church photo © Adrian Welch Caledonia Road Church Greek Thomson Buildings - Glasgow Buildings buck's head building, 63 argyle st - 1862-63 caledonia rd church - 1856-57 double villa, the, 25a mansionhouse rd - 1857 egyptian halls 84-100 union st - 1871-73 great western terrace - 1869 grecian chambers, 336-356 sauchiehall st - 1865 grosvenor building, 72-80 gordon st - 1859 holmwood house, 61 netherlee rd, cathcart - 1858 knowe, the, albert drive, shields rd - 1853 lilybank house extension - 1869 maria villa, langside - 1861 moray place - 1861 nithsdale road, 200 - 1871 north park terrace - 1866 oakfield avenue, 41-53 - 1865 otago street, 94-106 - 1874 queen's park united presbyterian church, langside rd - 1869 (destroyed) st vincent st church, 265 st vincent st - 1859 walmer crescent - 1857 watson street warehouse, 118-126 watson st - 1880 westbourne terrace, 21-39 hyndland rd - 1871 west nile street, 99-107 - 1858 Egyptian Halls photo © Adrian Welch Grosvenor Building photo © Adrian Welch Greek Thomson Buildings - Buildings outside Glasgow Arran View, off Commonhead Street, North Airdrie, 1867 Three-storey tower and attendant wings have Italianate massing with Greco-Egyptian typical Greek Thomson detailing, built for Gavin Black Motherwell. Arran View was converted by Ian Bridges Architect(s) into flats in 1987. Cairnhill House, Cairnhill Road, Cairnhill, Airdrie, 1841 Alexander Thomson worked on only as apprentice to John Baird Tor House, Rothesay, 1867 Alexander Thomson: Scholarship Competition This Competition - run by the GIA on a three-year basis in memory of one-time GIA President, open to all students of architecture and architects below age of thirty in the UK, prize fund £1000, ideas souight for transport interchange using the ruins of Caledonia Road Church, Gorbals. Greek Thomson - Warehouse The Herald and the Scotsman reported the demolition midweek of the Alexander Thomson's Watson Street Warehouse. This and the Compulsory Purchase by Glasgow City Council of Thomson's Egyptian Halls were reported in the BD, page 6 w/e Jan 31st. 31.01.03 Glasgow Tenements Two tenements built by famous architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's company are undergoing a £1.1m renovation. 2003 Greek Thomson - Scottish Architect A catalogue of 3D visualisations of a destroyed church interior by the C19th Scottish architect Alexander Greek Thomson - Website: www.scran.ac.uk/dl/ale/al.htm Alexander Thomson is one of the best architects of the nineteenth-century architecture and is frequently seen in opposition to fellow Glasgow architect Mackintosh due to the latter’s greater fame in the last few decades. Thomson was a prolific architect and created designs for a wide range of buildings including churches, houses, bazaars, tenements and warehouses. Greek Thomson’s designs are unusual and eclectic, decorative but powerful. His buildings are rooted in the Greek Revival, but he looked for inspiration in architectural styles far beyond Europe. Thomson’s most famous buildings I would suggest are the Caledonia Road Church and the St Vincent St Church (please advise if you think otherwise). Each exterior is fiercely strong, especially St Vincent St Church given its location on a steep hill within Glasgow’s grid. The St Vincent interior is wonderfully rich and in some ways its finicky and cosmopolitan decoration strikes a counterbalance to the external muscularity. Vincent Street-Milton Free Church - Website: www.greekthomsonchurch.com The Caledonia Road Church, in the Gorbals, was Greek Thomson’s first attempt at a church (1856-57) and uses a tower and raised portico to create strong massing. The Grade A-listed building was sold to Glasgow Corporation in 1963 but caught fire in 1965 [tower and portico saved] and has never been restored. First Church: Caledonia Road United Presbyterian Church Location: junction of Caledonia Road & Cathcart Road. The church started life as a United Presbyterian Church with adjoining tenements but became a United Free. It became Hutchesontown and Caledonia Road United Free in 1924. A computer model of the Alexander Thomson's Queen’s Park United Presbyterian Church interior was created for The Lighthouse’s first exhibition, in 1999. Queen’s Park Church was hit by a bomb in 1944, and burnt down. Murray Grigor made a film about Alexander Thomson called Ninevah on the Clyde, following his earlier film about Rennie Mackintosh.

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