Basic Biographical Details Name: | James Mitchell Whitelaw | Designation: | | Born: | 8 June 1886 | Died: | 5 July 1913 | Bio Notes: | James Mitchell Whitelaw was born in Glasgow on 8 June 1886, the son of Charles S Whitelaw, cooper manager from Irvine and his first wife Jane Mitchell. The 1901 census records that he had six siblings: Mary (27), Margaret (22), Charles S (20), William (18), Jane M (16) and Tom M (8). By that date Charles Whitelaw had remarried. His second wife, Annie, may have been the mother of Whitelaw’s younger brother but that is not yet clear.
Whitelaw was articled to Alexander Skirving c. 1901-05, during which period he attended the Glasgow School of Art under Alexander McGibbon and, briefly, Eugène Bourdon. He won the Alexander Thomson Travelling Scholarship and was briefly in the office of Honeyman & Keppie prior to entering John James Burnet's London office where he worked on the British Museum and became a close friend of Thomas Smith Tait. While in Burnet's office he attended the Architectural Association where he won the Herbert Batsford prize and the RIBA silver medal for his drawings of Alfred Stevens's Wellington Monument in St Paul's Cathedral, a subject calculated to endear him to Burnet who was a great admirer of Stevens's work. In 1909 he entered the Royal Academy Schools, winning the Soane medallion in 1913 with a design for a new railway terminus at Charing Cross, London.
Together with Tait, Whitelaw entered the competition for the St Marylebone Town Hall in 1911, but lost to Edwin Cooper. In 1912 they entered the unofficial 'Builder' competition for the rebuilding of the Regent Street Quadrant, coming second. The design was published: its bay design owed too much to Burnet's Forsyth's building in Edinburgh and for the first time Tait and Whitelaw incurred Burnet's displeasure.
Whitelaw drowned at Bournemouth on 5 July 1913. Tait and A G Shoosmith together with other colleagues and fellow students then put together a memorial volume entitled 'Designs in Architecture by James Mitchell Whitelaw 1886-1913' published in 1916.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 6, Keir Street, Pollokshields, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | 1901 * | | | | 51, St Andrews Drive, Pollokshields, Glasgow, Scotland | Private | Before 1902 | After 1904 | | | Loancroft, Uddingston, Lanarkshire, Scotland | Private | 1905 * | | | | London, England | Business | After 1905 | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
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 | | After 1905 | British Museum | Bloomsbury | | London | England | King Edward VII Wing (North Wing) and British Museum Avenue running N from new wing laid out -as assistant to Sir John James Burnet | | 1911 | Marylebone Municipal Buildings | | | London | England | Unsuccessful competition design, in collaboration with Thomas Smith Tait and ____ Sutton | | 1912 | Regent Street Quadrant, 'Builder' competition design | | | London | England | Second premiated competition design, in collaboration with Thomas Smith Tait |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Gray, A Stuart | 1985 | Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary | | | | | Tait, Thomas Smith, Shoosmith, A G et al. | 1916 | Designs in architecture by James Mitchell Whitelaw 1886-1913 | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 11 July 1913 | | | Obituary | | Building News | 26 July 1913 | | | Obituary | | RIBA Journal | 26 July 1913 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | Obituary |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Information courtesy of Peter Biggs | Information via website | | Sent February 2009 | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Research on family history by Iain Paterson |
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