Basic Biographical Details Name: | Robert Robinson | Designation: | | Born: | 1734 | Died: | 1794 | Bio Notes: | Robert Robinson was born in 1734, the son of William Robinson, gardener, Durham, and younger brother of William Robinson. He worked as a draughtsman and ‘executor of the Designs of Lancelot [Capability] Brown’. He worked as both architect and landscape gardener.
It is not clear why or when he moved to Edinburgh but in 1757 he planned to open a school in Edinburgh to teach architecture and perspective. In 1760 he formed a partnership with William Boutcher ‘for designing, drawing and executing all kinds of policy and gardening', and that he would continue to ‘give designs, and carry on buildings, as formerly’. In 1764 he had a nursery near the 'Abbay' in which he sold a large variety of plants. When he was made a burgess of Edinburgh ‘for good services’ in 1773, he called himself an architect.
Robinson’s landscape gardening work is well-documented but little is as yet known of his architectural work. He was one of a large number of architects employed by the Clerks of Penicuik. He was also involved with buildings in the New Town of Edinburgh. He married the daughter of a Berwickshire gentleman. They had one son, Alexander Ramsay Robinson, who became the superintendent of royal farms at Windsor and Kew.
Robinson worked in esates in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. In 1777 Robinson planned a new house for the tobacco merchant Alexander Speirs to replace a house known as King's Inch. The house was renamed Elderslie. At some point before 1782 Robert Robinson faced sequestration and he sold off property and goods to pay rents and bills. By that date he had left Edinburgh as he is described as 'Robert Robinson, late architect in Edinburgh'. It is not clear where he went after that and if he returned to Edinburgh before his death in 1794.
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Employment and TrainingEmployees or PupilsThe following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | James Ramsay | Before 178 | | Assistant | |
Buildings and DesignsThis 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 | | 1777 | Elderslie House | | | Glasgow | Scotland | |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Colvin, Howard | 2008 | A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 | | London: YUP. 4th edition | | | Lewis, Anthony | 2014 | The Builders of Edinburgh New Town 1767-1795 | | Reading: Spire Books | pp41, 43 142-3, 150 etc | | Scottish Record Society | 1933 | Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses | | | p136 | | Tait, A A | 1980 | The Landscape Garden in Scotland 1735-1835 | | Edinburgh | pp73-4, 85, 105n |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Caledonian Mercury | 8 March 1760 | | | | | Caledonian Mercury | 23 January 1764 | | | | | Caledonian Mercury | 12 January 1782 | | | | | Edinburgh Evening Courant | 5 November 1757 | | | |
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