James McLellan Brown

James McLellan Brown
Designation: Architect
Born: 21 September 1886(?)
Died: 25 December 1967
Bio Notes:

James McLellan Brown was born in Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, on 21 September 1886 or 4 September 1887 (GSA rolls are confused and give these dates as well as 1882 and 1889), the son of David Brown, silk weaver and his wife Janet (surname not given). He was articled to Cullen, Lochhead & Brown of Hamilton in 1904, remaining there as assistant until 1914 and studying at the Royal Glasgow Technical College and Glasgow School of Art from 1906 to 1913. Between 1908 and 1914 he made architectural sketching and measuring tours of Scotland, England, northern France and Belgium.

Brown joined the Dundee City Engineer and City Architect’s Department in September 1914 along with Vernon Constable and William Fraser, to work on the Caird Hall and City Square development under James Thomson. All three were soon called up, Brown serving in the Royal Engineers and eventually securing a commission. He returned to the City Engineer and City Architect’s Department in Dundee as an assistant in 1919, and was admitted ARIBA in the same year, his proposers being James Lochhead, John Wilson and James Thomson. In 1922 the posts of City Engineer and City Architect were divided and in May 1924 Thomson retired as City Architect and Director of Housing at the age of seventy-two. The post of City Architect and Director of Housing was then abolished, Thomson’s duties being taken over by the City Engineer, George Baxter. Brown was lucky to survive the programme of dismissals which culminated in the departure of Vernon Constable, Thomson’s chief assistant architect; these resulted in him becoming the most senior surviving architect on the City Engineer’s staff. Like Constable, Brown supplemented his income by teaching architecture at Dundee College of Technology and by undertaking work for other architects, principally Thoms & Wilkie.

With the prospect of the City Square redevelopment about to be put in hand, David McLay, Baxter’s successor as City Engineer and City Architect, recommended Brown as Depute City Architect on 27 February 1931, a post he accepted on 3 September, initially not without some hesitation as he feared he might share the same fate as Constable when the project was complete. But by March 1932 Brown had a staff of eighteen and had begun designing some quite distinguished and spaciously laid out stone-built tenement housing in Queen Street, Broughty Ferry (1931-32) and Morgan Place (1935-39). He made study tours in France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, these visits resulting in the Art Deco brick and harled tenements of Beechwood begun in 1935.

Brown was promoted to the position of City Architect and Director of Housing on 30 October 1944, and retained that position until his retirement in September 1951. He died on 25 December 1967 at Ninewells Hospital, survived by his wife Margaret Smith who died in January 1969 and his daughter Marjory who settled in Bognor.

Private and Business Addresses

Employment and Training
Employers

Employees or Pupils

Information curtesy of Dictionary of Scottish architects. More information on James can be found there.

http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200445