Basic Biographical Details Name: | Alexander Watt | Designation: | | Born: | c. 1827 | Died: | After 1890 | Bio Notes: | Alexander Watt was born in Glasgow c. 1827 and articled to William Spence in Glasgow. About 1854 another apprentice at Spence's, Hugh Barclay, formed a partnership with him under the title of Barclay & Watt. They established a reputation very early, first with the remarkable triple-arched cast-iron façade at 60-66 Jamaica Street in 1856-57 which took Baird and Spence's early experiments with cast-iron facades into a more three-dimensional form, and then with the refined and original classicism of the Ewing Place Church in Waterloo Street and the Corinthian Corn Exchange reconstruction on Hope Street, both in 1858. In or about 1857 James Sellars joined the practice as an apprentice, followed on 1 January 1861 by Hugh's much younger brother David, born 1846; both became members of Alexander Thomson's circle, David writing a memoir of him in 1904. The connection with Thomson was clearly a close one: David Barclay was married to Jane Ewing Walker, daughter of John E Walker, stabler and cab-hirer and Alexander Thomson's most important client. During his apprenticeship David started drawing under the painter A D Robertson and at the end of it undertook the continental study tour which was the foundation of his French and German influenced neo classicism.
The early success of the Barclay & Watt practice was not sustained. In the mid-1860s it appears to have been seriously short of commissions. James Sellars left for James Hamilton's, although at least for a time some sort of working relationship remained; and at or about the same date Alexander Watt left to re-commence practice on his own account, first of all at 67 Renfield Street and from c.1884 at 131 West Regent Street.
Watt painted in watercolours as well as practising as an architect. He appears to have visited the USA by the early 1860s: he married an American, Caroline B____, born in Connecticut, and their daughter Caroline was born c. 1865. In 1870 he exhibited a watercolour of rocks at Fredericksburg, Texas at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 136, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1856 * | | | | 16, Cleland Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1857 * | | | | 101, West Nile Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1858 | 1860 or 1861 | | | 166, New City Road, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1860 * | | | | 83, St Georges Place, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1861 * | 1862 | | | Dalreoch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland | Private | 1861 * | 1862 | | | 67, Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | Before 1865 | 1877 | | | Lenzie, Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire, Scotland | Private | 1875 * | | | | 10, Queen Mary Avenue, Cathcart, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1881 * | | | | 131, West Regent Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | Before 1884 | After 1888 | | | Lenzie, Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire, Scotland | Private | 1887 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployersThe following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | William Spence | c. 1850(?) | c. 1854(?) | Apprentice(?) | | | Barclay & Watt | c. 1854 | Mid 1860s | Partner | |
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Architect's List | 1883 | Architect's List (sic- BAL) | | | | | Architects Engineers and Building Trades Directory | 1868 | Architect's, Engineer's and Building Trades' Directory | | London, Wyman | | | Kelly's Building Trades | 1886 | Kelly's Building Trades | | | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Research by Iain Paterson |
|