Basic Biographical Details

Name:	Ross & Mackintosh
Designation:
Born:	c. 1875
Died:	1886
Bio Notes:	Alexander Ross was born at Huntly Hill, Stracathro, Angus, on 9 July 1834, the son of James Ross, architect, then aged about 53. In 1838 the family moved to Inverness, Archibald having engaged the older Ross to complete work he had in hand in that area. He was educated at Inverness Royal Academy and Bell's Institution, and on leaving, c.1848, he is said somewhat doubtfully to have been apprenticed to a building contractor to gain practical experience before being articled to his father. Neither of these apprenticeships could have been the usual length as he stated in his nomination form that he left his father's office to gain practical experience as 'a clerk of works in a contractor's firm', returning to his father as assistant before taking over his practice at the early age of 19 when he died in 1853. A younger brother, James, who predeceased him, became a solicitor in Inverness. Ross successfully developed the Episcopal Church building aspect of his father's practice. In 1859 he formed a partnership with his schoolfriend William Joass and in the same year widened his social connections by enlisting in the Volunteers with the Inverness Garrison Artillery of which he was to became colonel; and still further by entering the exclusive St John's Masonic Lodge, Inverness, in 1863. In 1864 or 1865 he married Mary Ann Carnaby Finlayson, daughter of Sir Alexander Matheson's factor on Harris, an influential match which brought the factorship of Matheson's Inverness estate in 1868. The partnership of Ross & Joass was dissolved in 1865, Joass thereafter practising independently on his own account in Dingwall. In the following year Ross secured the commission for the new St Andrew's Cathedral in Inverness and this in turn resulted in his being nominated to take part in the limited competition for St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1872. His triple-spired design submitted under the pseudonym Fidelitas was mistaken for that of William Burges in August while that of Burges 'Non ignotiae civitas municeps' was assumed to be Ross's. Both architects issued disclaimers, thus effectively identifying their correct provenance. Ross's scheme, nevertheless, attracted the admiration of the Trustees and although the assessor, Ewan Christian, had recommended George Edmund Street, Ross lost to George Gilbert Scott in November by only one vote; Scott was then instructed to add western spires to his own design in conformity with Ross's. This provoked a reaction from Ross who, under the new pseudonym of Fair Play, wrote objecting to Scott's appointment and the £10-12,000 increase in the cost limit when his design could by his calculations, though not Christian's, be built within the cost limit. This appeal to the Trustees was unsuccessful and the competition damaged Ross's reputation when rumours began to circulate that Ross's design had been made by an ex-assistant of Burges's, the London architect George Freeth Roper (1843-92) to whom the design of St Andrew's Cathedral in Inverness had been farmed out in 1866. Ross countered these rumours by publishing some of his correspondence with Roper in edited form, which in turn provoked Roper into publishing the letters in full. The correspondence was closed by the Building News in March 1873 when it published St Andrews and a design by Roper side by side so that their readers could draw their own conclusions. The St Mary's Cathedral affair had little effect on Ross's practice or on his reputation at home. The Bishop of Brechin in particular gave him his support; his lodge made him master, 1873-76; he was elected to the Town Council of Inverness in 1881 and was provost, 1889-95; and the University of Aberdeen conferred upon him the degree of LLD in 1891. By that date Ross's practice had grown very considerably, particularly with new schools and schoolhouses of which he was said to have built 450 for the school boards from 1872 onwards. It was probably because of school work in the remoter areas, including long journeys by steamer, mail coach and gig that Ross opened a branch office in Oban in about 1880, having entered into a partnership with David Mackintosh in about 1875 with Mackintosh running the branch office; but sometime after 1883 when the demands of the school boards had been largely met, the partnership was dissolved, Mackintosh thereafter continuing the Oban practice independently just as Joass had done in Dingwall.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
	Address	Type	Date from	Date to	Notes
	Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland	Business	c. 1875	c. 1880
	Oban, Argyll, Scotland	Business	c. 1880

Employment and Training

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details):
	Name	Date from	Date to	Position	Notes
	John Robertson	c. 1875	Before 1880	Assistant
	Alexander Ross	c. 1875	1883	Partner
	David Mackintosh or Macintosh	c. 1875	1883	Partner

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
	Date started	Building name	Town, district or village	Island	City or county	Country	Notes
	1875	Ballindalloch House	Inveravon		Banffshire	Scotland	Large bedroom wing added - demolished 1965-67
	1875	Tobermory High School	Tobermory	Mull	Argyll	Scotland
	1878	Kincorth House, factor's house			Morayshire	Singapore	Probably Ross & Mackintosh
	1880	St Michael's Episcopal Church	Dufftown		Banffshire	Scotland	May have been in partnership with Mackintosh
	1881	Duncansburgh Parish Church	Fort William		Inverness-shire	Scotland
	1881	Oban Episcopal Cathedral of St John the Divine	Oban		Argyll	Scotland	Proposed additions - not carried out
	c. 1881	St Michael's Parsonage	Dufftown		Banffshire	Scotland
	1883	17-19 Argyll Square	Oban		Argyll	Scotland
	1883	St Mary's Episcopal School	Glencoe		Inverness-shire	Scotland
	1884	Great Western Hotel and Terrace	Oban		Argyll	Scotland	Additions to dining hall
	1884	Wooden shop	Oban		Argyll	Scotland
	Before 1886	Royal Hotel	Oban		Argyll	Scotland	'Buildings of Scotland' attribution

References

Currently, there are no references for this . The information has been derived from: the British Architectural Library / RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914; Post Office Directories; and/or any sources listed under this individual's works.