Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Records of Alexander Buchanan Campbell and Partners, architects, Glasgow, Scotland

551 13

Description Records of Alexander Buchanan Campbell and Partners, architects, Glasgow, Scotland

Date 1940 to 1990

Collection Records of Alexander Buchanan Campbell and Partners, architects, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 13

Category All Other

Scope and Content The Collection comprises rolled drawings, photographs, business correspondence, framed images, mounted presentation boards, books, trade samples and literature, and office furniture. The catalogued component of the Alexander Buchanan Campbell Collection contains all projects commissioned by East Kilbride Town Council and the neighbouring 5th District Council of Blantyre. The remainder of catalogued papers in the Collection date from the late 1940s to the early 1990s and reflect the key building types tackled by the practice. An extensive set of office correspondence which accompanies these drawings remains un-catalogued but is available for consultation at the NMRS. Other miscellaneous items include a photographic portrait of the architect, a small model of Tait's Tower and twenty exhibition panels. A number of significant projects were not catalogued during SAPPP, including the flats at Garscadden Policies, Drumchapel, Glasgow (c.1961-1970); Callendar Park College of Education, Falkirk (opened 1964); the extension to Ardrossan Academy, Ardrossan (c.1969); and Glenochil Young Offenders’ Institute (c.1973).

Archive History The Collection was gifted to the National Monuments Record of Scotland in 1995 by Alexander Buchanan Campbell. The Collection was catalogued and conserved as part of the Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project (SAPPP) between 1999 and 2004. Prior to the commencement of SAPPP, an Access database listing the rolled drawings (approximately 11,500 items) in the Collection was created in 2003. At this stage the majority of the rolls of drawings were not labelled, but there was evidence suggesting that labels had at some point been attached. Within each project catalogued a note has been made of the original project number allocated by the practice.

System of Arrangement All items for each building are grouped together into projects. Projects are then grouped by decade, with all projects numbered by the earliest decade in which they appeared. A partial job list survives. The remainder of the items not included in SAPPP have been handlisted. These are stored off-site at Baileyfield.

Related Material To avoid duplication, no housing designed by Campbell for Mactaggart & Mickel was catalogued as part of the Alexander Buchanan Campbell Collection except for a scheme for a cinema and shop complex, Carmunnock Road, Glasgow (1953-54). These drawings can be found in the SAPPP Mactaggart & Mickel Collection (Accession No. 2000/98). Campbell’s RIBA nomination papers are held in the RIBA archive at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Access Conditions Access is unrestricted, except where conservation concerns exist.

Administrative History Alexander Buchanan Campbell was born 14 June 1914. In the early 1930s he worked as an assistant for Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, at 144 St Vincent Street, Glasgow. During this time he studied architecture four nights a week at Glasgow School of Art, where Jack Coia (1898-1981) taught, before commencing full-time study at the Royal Technical College. Campbell registered with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) as an architect in 1937. The following year Thomas Harold Hughes (1887-1949) engaged him as a studio instructor at Glasgow School of Architecture for six months. He then gained employment in Liverpool with the Cunard Line as a designer on the Queen Elizabeth express ship. In 1939 Campbell returned to Glasgow and was called up for military service, working for a time in the Design and Inspection Branch of War Office Prefabrication in London. After the war Campbell returned to the Glasgow City Architects’ office before establishing his own practice in 1950 at 128 Elderslie Steet, Glasgow. In the same year he became a governor of the Glasgow School of Architecture. He was elected ARIBA (Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects) in 1937 and FRIBA (Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects) in 1955, by which time he was living at 26 Station Road, Bearsden, Glasgow. As a result of his work in the City Architects’ office, Campbell received many commissions during the 1950s and early 1960s designing schools for the Corporation of Glasgow. The practice was also responsible for the design of several churches in the West of Scotland during the 1950s, with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell being a significant client. In the early 1950s Frank Mickel (b. 1908) of the MacTaggart & Mickel building company appointed Campbell as company architect. He undertook a number of large housing commissions for MacTaggart & Mickel, including several phases of the Broom Housing Estate, Renfrewshire (c.1953-1973) and housing at Eaglesham, Renfrewshire (c.1955-1965). Campbell completed numerous projects for East Kilbride Town Council and the neighbouring 5th District Council of Blantyre during their bid to attain burgh status in the 1960s. The best known of these is the Dollan Baths, Brouster Hill, East Kilbride (1961-69), a 324ft parabolic-arched structure that accommodated an Olympic-sized pool. Campbell designed Callender Park College, Falkirk (opened 1964) and Craigie College, Ayr (c. 1963-71) for the Scottish Council for the Training of Teachers and in 1966 Alan Reiach awarded a Civic Trust Commendation and a Class I award for these projects, respectively. Both have since been demolished. Campbell’s elder brother, John joined the practice for a short period around the time it moved to 1 Royal Crescent, Glasgow, c. 1966-7, following his retirement from the Education Department of Glasgow Corporation. At some point during the early years of the 1980s the practice became known as A Buchanan Campbell and Partners but office papers suggest that the original name of Alexander Buchanan Campbell had been reassumed by 1989. The practice had closed by 1995.

Finding Aids An Access database box listing is available.

Accruals No further accruals are expected.

Accession Number 1995/8

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1176312

Collection Hierarchy - Collection Level

Collection Level (551 13) Records of Alexander Buchanan Campbell and Partners, architects, Glasgow, Scotland

Preview Category Catalogue Number Title Date Level
All Other 551 13/12 Practice Administration. 1950 Group Level

People and Organisations

Events