Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Pilkington & Bell | | Designation: | | | Born: | 1867 | | Died: | 1877 | | Bio Notes: | Frederick Thomas Pilkington was born in 1832, probably in Stamford, the son of architect Thomas Pilkington who had set up architectural practice there. In 1838 Thomas was burnt out, and he had moved to Barn Hill by 1842; by 1849 he was in Bourne with his own brickworks. Frederick Thomas first trained with his father and was then articled in London for one year, returning to his father's firm thereafter. The family moved to Edinburgh in 1854, apparently because of a lawsuit; Thomas opened an office at 10 Dundas Street and set up house at 9 South-East Circus Place. The firm exhibited designs at the RSA in that year under the name of T Pilkington & Son but Frederick's younger brother, James, returned to Stamford c.1857 after two years at the University of Edinburgh. Frederick studied mathematics under Professor Kelland, passed his exams in 1858 and was Hamilton prizewinner in Logic, but did not bother to graduate. He signed the University Matriculation Register 1856/7 as of Stamford. In 1858 he married with a house at Mary Cottage, Trinity and in 1859 he built Inchglas, Broich Terrace, Crieff (as a weekend house?); he never lived there but his father was living there in 1860. About 1859-60 the practice was based at 6 North Charlotte Street which was his father's house and office, but in the latter year house and office were moved to 24 George Street. In or about the same year, Frederick became friendly with John Cowan, the paper-maker of Penicuik, whose diary records a continental tour undertaken with Pilkington in the early 1860s. On 10 March 1861 Pilkington's first wife died in childbirth, and he married Elizabeth Cropley from Ely five months later, first with a house at 27 St Bernard Crescent and then at 14 Cumin Place later in the same year. By that date Pilkington had progressed from exhibiting at the RSA to actually building a series of ambitious geometrically planned churches, mostly with tall lucarned spires, boldly scaled naturalistic sculpture, and sometimes polychrome masonry, all of Ruskinian inspiration; in Venetian Romanesque form the style extended into his domestic practice in a series of large houses in Edinburgh, Port Glasgow, Penicuik and Walkerburn.
In 1863 Pilkington's parents moved to Kelso, Frederick transferring his office to 2 Hill Street. John Murray Bell (born 1839) commenced practice as a surveyor at the same address in the same year. He acted as surveyor for the Pilkingtons at the Kelso Church in 1864, and their practice was merged as Pilkington & Bell in 1867. The partnership lasted until Bell's death on 31 May 1877. | Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 2, Hill Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1867 | 1877 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | RCAHMS | 1992 | Dundee on Record | | RCAHMS | View of Eastern Club North Facade (1967) p45 | | Walker, Frank Arneil | 1986 | South Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to Inverclyde and Renfrew | | | p124 |
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