Basic Biographical Details
| Name: | James Donaldson |
| Designation: | |
| Born: | c. 1756 |
| Died: | 8 October 1843 |
| Bio Notes: | James Donaldson was born about 1756 in Ayrshire. He later inherited the estate of Williamshaw in Stewarton Parish. He was articled to Thomas Leverton and later married his niece Jane (daughter of Andrew) Leverton. The first drawing he exhibited at the Royal Academy was a design for a temple and it exhibited was ‘from Mr Leverton’s’ in 1777. He worked for Robert Mylne from about 1780 as a clerk. He remained with Mylne for some years and from 1809 until his death he was a district surveyor for the City of London. In 1806 he was the agent in the sale of a gentleman's house with 28 acres of land in London. He is known to have produced a survey plan of Culzean Castle in 1818 and worked on the 1st Marquess's estate at Isleworth which had substantial greenhouses. After designing the Camelia House at Culzean, he was retained as the estate architect. Donaldson died in Bloomsbury where he had lived since the 1790s, if not before. |
Employment and Training
Employers
| The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | |||||
| Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | |
 | Thomas Leverton | Apprentice | |||
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 | |
| High Williamshaw | Stewarton | Ayrshire | Scotland | May have been designed by him after he inherited the estate. | ||
| 1815 | Culzean Castle, Camelia House | Ayrshire | Scotland | 'Buildings of Scotland' gives 1818 | ||
| 1818 | Culzean Castle | Ayrshire | Scotland | Survey plan, dated 1818. | ||
References
Bibliographic References
| The following books contain references to this : | ||||||
| Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | |
| Close, Rob and Riches, Anne | 2012 | The Buildings of Scotland: Ayrshire & Arran | New Haven and London: Yale University Press | p258 | |
| Colvin, Howard | 2008 | A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 | London: YUP. 4th edition | ||
Periodical References
| The following periodicals contain references to this : | |||||
| Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | |
| Gentleman's Magazine | 1843 | ii, p553 | ||
| Morning Post | 16 December 1806 | |||
Archive References
| The following archives hold material relating to this : | ||||
| Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | |
| Historic Environment Scotland | Listed Buildings Register | ||
| PRO | Wills | PROB 11/1988, 759 | |