Basic Biographical Details Name: | James Boucher | Designation: | | Born: | 24 August 1826 | Died: | 7 September 1906 | Bio Notes: | James Boucher was born on 24 August 1826, the son of John Boucher, solicitor, London. He was very probably born in Cumbernauld where his grandfather, the Rev James Boucher, was minister. He was articled to Charles Wilson c.1842 and was an assistant there when he became acquainted with James Cousland (born 1853), who joined Wilson's office as an articled apprentice c.1848.
On 20 April 1853 Boucher commenced a grand tour, travelling through Belgium and sailing up the Rhine through Germany. He then made his way to Switzerland, Italy and France which he reached by sailing from Naples to Marseilles. He returned on 16 December, sailing from Boulogne to Folkestone.
On his return Boucher commenced independent practice in partnership with Cousland. As early as 1855 or 1856 they built for themselves a pair of semidetached houses, Swiss Cottage at 35-37 St Andrew's Drive, Pollokshields, and in the same years Boucher and two friends undertook a walking tour through the High Alps to the Tyrol, an account of which was published in the Glasgow Herald. In September 1857 Boucher repeated the route of his 1853 tour in less than three weeks between the 4th and the 23rd. What he saw on those tours strongly influenced the practice's architecture for the next twenty years. Two years after his return he married 20-year-old Rebecca Laurie at Govan on 7 October 1859, and built for her a fine Italianate house, Swiss Villa, at Coulport adjacent to his client John Kibble's Coulport House. They had two daughters, Ella, born 8 December 1867, and Jane Laurie, born 26 April 1869. Later the Bouchers moved their Glasgow residence to Brandon Place, now 217 West George Street, where the Italian painter Enrico Patalano was a member of the household from c.1878 until 1881. There is no record of Cousland having travelled, although he probably did, but Boucher seems to have been the most travelled Scottish architect of his generation, in sheer extent approached only by John Dick Peddie and David MacGibbon.
The Boucher & Cousland practice was successful at once, designing the ambitious Gothic Renfield Free Church on Bath Street, a large block of warehouses and shops for Black at the corner of Gordon Street and Renfield Street in 1857-8, and a considerable number of very ambitious villas exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1860 and the Glasgow Institute in 1861. Within a year or two Walter Macfarlane of Saracen Iron Works became a client and in addition to the Macfarlane warehouse in Washington Street (1862) and the Saracen Ironworks at Possilpark (begun 1869), the practice made many designs for architectural castings. The Couslands had some sort of business connection with John Kibble whose father had a wire and metal warehouse at Turner's Court in Argyle Street. In the early 1860s Kibble built the large Italian Romanesque villa Coulport House adjacent to Boucher's Swiss Villa at Loch Long for which they designed the conservatory which in enlarged form became the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens at Kelvinside: Cousland is said to have made a model in wire, to show Kibble what it would look like. In 1862-64 the partnership reached its zenith with the towered Romanesque Free Church at Kinning Park and their cruciform Renaissance Free St George's Church, but Cousland's career was to be brief: his health was upset by a fatal accident at the building of Free St George's and he died at Swiss Cottage on 12 June 1866, survived by his wife Jessie Knox Anderson.
Boucher was thereafter sole practitioner until 1875 when he took into partnership his pupil Henry Higgins (born 1848) who had been his assistant for two years, the style of the firm now becoming Boucher & Higgins. Higgins's son G H Higgins thereafter joined the practice, but seems to have died sometime after 1892 when he designed Temple Church at Anniesland.
Boucher died at Swiss Villa, Coulport on 7 September 1906 leaving the substantial movable estate of £8,916 5s 0d. He was survived by his widow. He was buried at Barbour Cemetery, Cove. Despite his large practice Boucher never sought election to the Royal Institute of British Architects. Photographs of him with mutton chop whiskers, and another of him bearded on a tricycle towing Mrs Boucher in a bath chair are in the possession of the Colvil family.
Higgins died on 9 June 1922, the practice being continued by Henry Edward Higgins (born 1878) who was articled to his father from 1901 to 1906, studied at Glasgow School of Art and remained with his father as assistant. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Swiss Cottage/ 35-37, St Andrews Drive, Pollokshields, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | c. 1857 | | Also given as Cousland's private address | | 43, Bath Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1860 | 1862 | | | Pollokshields, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1862 | | | | 217, West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1876 * | | | | Swiss Villa, Coulport, Loch Long, Argyll, Scotland | Private | 1888 | | | | 247, St Vincent Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1888 | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployersEmployees or Pupils
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 | | | Yellowlees | Carron | | Stirlingshire/Argyll? | Scotland | Date unknown | | 1853 | Kemp's, 37 Buchanan Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | After 1854 | Eaton Bank | Dowanhill | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | After 1854 | Villa for James McBride | Greenock | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | 1855 | Speculative building, Sauchiehall Street (south side) | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1857 | Renfield Free Church | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1857 | Swiss Cottage (Double Villa) | Pollokshields | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1857 | Thornton Lodge | Helensburgh | | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | | | 1858 | Black's warehouse | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Alterations | | 1858 | Hopeville | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1858 | Offices and Shops | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1858 | Villa for Alexander McGaw | Port Glasgow | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | c. 1858 | Castlebank | Bothwell | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | c. 1858(?) | Villa for Robert Cuthbert | Greenock | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | 1859 | Mansefield Church | Kilwinning | | Ayrshire | Scotland | | | 1860 | Dranelg | Coulport | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1860 | Villa | Dowanhill | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | 53 Buchanan Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Balclutha House | Greenock (near) | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Benvue, Sydenham Road | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Double villa for T L Paterson | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Norwood, Sydenham Road | Dowanhill | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Villa for David Burges | Helensburgh | | Dunbartonshire | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Villa for David Johnstone | Greenock | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | c. 1860 | Villa for John Henderson | Canniesburn | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1861 | Coulport House | Loch Long | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1861 | Mansion at Ascog | Ascog | Bute | Bute | Scotland | | | 1861 | Wellington Arcade | | | Glasgow | Scotland | New entrance and enlargement. | | 1862 | Kinning Park Free Church | Kinning Park | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1862 | Sanitary Warehouse | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1863 | Free Manse | Tighnabruaich | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1863 | St George's Free Church | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1863 | The Lodge, Lochgoilhead | Lochgoilhead | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1863 | Tighnabruaich Free Church | Tighnabruaich | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1865 | Greenock Club | Greenock | | Renfrewshire | Scotland | | | c. 1865 | Aytoun House | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1866 | Ravensleigh | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Probably by Boucher & Cousland | | 1867 | Gaelic Free Church and hall | Campbeltown | | Argyll | Scotland | | | 1869 | Saracen Factory | Possilpark | | Glasgow | Scotland | Original block | | 1870 or 1871 | Redlands House | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Original house | | c. 1872 | 22 Park Circus | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Façade to Charles Wilson's design and interiors, including Turkish Bath for Wlter Macfarlane | | 1874 | Tighnabruaich School | Auchenlochan | | Argyll | Scotland | Attribution by 'Buildings of Scotland' | | 1875 | 223-229 Ingram Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1875 | City of Glasgow Bank | Banff | | Banffshire | Scotland | | | 1875 | Teachers whisky offices | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1875 | The Nile Block | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1875 | Warehouse, Miller Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Rebuilding and extension: new block on Ingram Street corner | | After 1875 | St George's Parish Church | | | Edinburgh | Scotland | Refurnishing (since removed) - may have been by Boucher alone | | 1876 | 12-16 Ann Street (now Midland Street) | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Remodelling | | 1877 | Carlston, 998 Great Western Road | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1878 | Science and Art Museum | Falkirk | | Stirlingshire | Scotland | | | 1879 | Established Church at Partick | Partick | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1880 | Copeland (or Copland) & Lye premises | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Sauchiehall Street section | | 1881(?) | Balfron UF Church | Balfron | | Stirlingshire | Scotland | | | c. 1881 | Glasgow Municipal Buildings | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Two competition design entered under the pseudonyms Festina Lente and Ca Cannie | | c. 1882 | Woodside Parish Church | Woodside | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1883 | Kemp's, 37 Buchanan Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Two storeys added after fire | | 1884 | 97 Buchanan Street | | | Glasgow | Scotland | Reconstruction of building of 1828 with new attic | | 1884 | Carron Building | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1884 | West UP Church | Falkirk | | Stirlingshire | Scotland | New front | | 1886 | Richmond | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1889 | Bearsden Free Church | Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1889 | Contractor's Depot | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1891 | Queen Mary Street Public School | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1897 | Saracen Factory | Possilpark | | Glasgow | Scotland | Addition | | 1901 | Darvel Board School | Darvel | | Ayrshire | Scotland | Won competition to secure job - Henry Edward Higgins reponsible | | 1904 | Bellsea Park, fountain | Fraserburgh | | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | APSD | | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | | | Johnston, W T | 2003 | Artists of Scotland | | Officina Publications CDROM | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Courtesy of Robert Colvil | Information sent via 'Contact Us' on website | | Sent December 2010 | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Letter from D M Colvil, grandson, to Iain Paterson, 12 December 1895. Personal information from the Cousland family to A G Lochhead. |
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