Basic Biographical Details Name: | Monro & Partners | Designation: | | Born: | | Died: | | Bio Notes: | This is the name of the practice from about 1955 which was established in the mid-19th century by James Milne Monro.
James Milne Monro was born in 1840 and was articled to John Henderson in Edinburgh c.1855. Either just before or at Henderson's death in 1862 he became an assistant in the office of Brown & Wardrop. In the mid-1860s he moved to Glasgow as assistant to William Spence before setting up his own practice at 33 Bath Street in 1872 (Bailey; Gregory, 'Architectural Heritage' XIV gives 1870), moving to no 28 in the same street in 1874.
In 1883 Monro's son Charles Ernest Monro, born 1867 (Bailey and Gregory give 1876) joined the firm as an apprentice becoming assistant in 1888 and partner as J M Monro & Son in 1893. He passed the qualifying exam relatively late in 1902, although he had probably been responsible for most of the firm's Free Renaissance design work since c.1890. He was admitted ARIBA on 2 March 1903, his proposers being David Barclay, Horatio Kelson Bromhead and John Slater. His father then sought admission as Fellow in 1906, his proposers being John James Burnet, John Keppie and David Barclay. The practice moved to 134 Bath Street in 1912.
James Milne Monro died at his home, Saxonholme, Bearsden on 27 June 1921. Throughout his lifetime the firm had concentrated on hotel and industrial work, particularly for bakers. In the early 1920s Charles Ernest's son Geoffrey James, born 1907, joined the firm, followed by the unrelated John Forbes. In the 1920s and 1930s the firm concentrated on department store and shop work chiefly for Marks & Spencer and Bayne & Duckett, initially in an Art Deco classical style. The Glasgow office was moved in 1935 to 307 West George Street. After the firm won the competition for the De Haviland factory, Geoffrey Monro opened an office at Leavesden in Hertfordshire in 1940, moving to an office in Watford in 1943.
Charles Ernest Monro died in 1945. In 1955 the Glasgow office moved to 25 Woodside Place, and in the same year the practice became known as Monro and Partners after the first non-family partners were introduced, on of whom was John Forbes who died in 1970. (Bailey gives the date of the title being changed as 1957).
In 1966 Ian Cruickshank and David Sampson were taken into partnership and in 1972 Alistair Anderson Taylor joined. By 1970 the Cruichshank & Samson were still partners but they had been joined by D Wilcockson, W W Carruthers and C F Davis. Gillean Petrie Small and George Walter Waterston joined as partners in 1983. Geoffrey James Monro died in early 1985. In 1991 the practice merged with Tibbalds Colbourne Karski Williams to become Tibbalds Colbourne Karski Williams Monro, known as Tibbalds Monro.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | J A M House/26, Exchange Street, Watford, Hertfordshire, Scotland | Business | 1970 * | | | | 25, Woodside Place, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1981 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils* earliest date known from documented sources.
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Bailey, Rebecca M | 1996 | Scottish architects' papers: a source book | | Edinburgh: The Rutland Press | p148 | | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 24 January 1964 | | | p216 |
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