Records of Dick Peddie and McKay, architects, Edinburgh, Scotland

Description Records of Dick Peddie and McKay, architects, Edinburgh, Scotland

Date 1840 to 1980

Collection Records of Dick Peddie and McKay, architects, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 46

Category All Other

Scope and Content The Dick Peddie & McKay Collection comprises approximately 36,000 drawings, which are a testimony to the practice’s reputation as one of Scotland’s leading architects of the mid- to late- 19th century. The firm worked on a huge variety of building types, and although an Edinburgh-based practice, it is not difficult to find at least one building designed, or significantly altered, by the practice in every major town in Scotland. Within the Collection there are 147 manuscript items, including specifications, letters, feu contracts and trade literature. The 140 years of work represented in the Collection provides a useful resource for studying changes in draughtsmanship, drawing office practice and reprographic methods. The practice completed urban and suburban developments; housing schemes such as Todd’s Preston Cross Housing Scheme, Prestonpans (1936-37); country houses at Lathallan near Colinsburgh (1864) and The Binn, Burntisland (1865); churches for Southwick Parish, Dumfriesshire (1889-90) and the United Presbyterian congregation at Sydney Place, Edinburgh (1857); educational institutions including Edinburgh College of Art (c. 1905-27); civic buildings such as Greenock Court House, Nelson Street, Greenock (1864-68); hospitals including Chalmers Hospital, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh (1855-1927) and the Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh (1878-1947); asylums at Haddington (1860) and Stratheden, Cupar (1863); numerous banks for the Royal Bank of Scotland in the 1850s and the Bank of Scotland in the 1860s-1870s; hydropathic institutions in the 1870s at Dunblane (1874-77) and Craiglockhart (1877-92); hotels including the Blythswoodholme Hotel, 97-99 Hope Street, Glasgow (1876-79) and the Caledonian Railway Station and Hotel (1848-1923); shops; breweries; public houses; cinemas; garages; factories; military commissions and war work. A number of projects executed outwith Scotland are also represented, and the Collection also holds drawings that were acquired from other practices.

Archive History The archive was originally ordered by a ‘bin’ system that saw drawings stored in numbered ‘bins’ (size approximately 3 x 2 ft). This system was likely created at 3 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, where the practice was based from 1860-1896. The drawings were transferred to two attics at 8 Albyn Place, Edinburgh in 1896 and the ‘bin’ numbers were retained. The drawing store was managed by an archivist until the 1950s, but had become so muddled by c. 1977-78 that Richard Emerson of Historic Buildings and Monuments compiled a list for the Collection with the assistance of Steve Brewer, following the existing bin numbering system. Rolled drawings were put into clear plastic tubes (‘bags’) and additional ‘bin’ numbers were created for loose items. Copies of both the old and new indexes are stored at RCAHMS. RCAHMS purchased various drawings by Peddie & Kinnear from David Letham Antiques, Thistle Street, Edinburgh (Accession No. 1968/5) in 1968, suggesting that a number of items belonging to the practice had dispersed and been sold by this point. A typed list of the Collection was produced in 1982 and modified in 1985 when approximately one third of the office drawings were discarded. After the archive moved to Leith, the order of the ‘bins’ was again partly lost, and between 1995- c.1999 David W. Walker compiled a paper catalogue as part of his doctoral research into the practice up to 1894. Individual drawings from a wide range of Peddie & Kinnear projects are itemised in this catalogue, but are limited to those that were accessible at the time. In January 1999 a grant of £100,200 was awarded to RCAHMS by the Heritage Lottery Fund in order to acquire the Dick Peddie & McKay Collection and to undertake a cataloguing and conservation programme in line with the Scottish Architect’s Papers Preservation Project. Many drawings were digitally copied, making them readily available for the public to study and enjoy.

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.

Related Material RCAHMS has completed surveys of a number of Private Collections relating to the work of Dick Peddie & McKay. These include a set of drawings by Peddie & Kinnear for Aberdeen Municipal Buildings, dated 1869 (Accession No. 2000/11); and a presentation drawing by Basil Spence for West Lothian County Buildings, Linlinthgow, 1937, executed for Dick Peddie, Todd & Jamieson, and two photographs of drawings of a proposed scheme for Princes Street, one signed and dated J. Dick Peddie, 1866 (Accession No. 2000/22). The Spence drawing was later purchased by RCAHMS (Accession No. 2000/68). The Collections of Lorimer & Matthew, Sydney Mitchell & Wilson and Scott Morton contain material relating to the practice or personnel of Dick Peddie & McKay. Other papers from the practice can be found in the Cowie & Seaton Collection.

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

Administrative History The Dick Peddie & McKay Collection has a long and involved history, spanning a period of 140 years and representing the work of several generations of architects. The practice was established by John Dick Peddie (1824-1891), a University of Edinburgh graduate who was articled to David Rhind (1808-1883). After winning a competition for the United Presbyterian Synod Hall, 4-6 Queen Street, Edinburgh (1845-50), Peddie set up an independent practice at 36 Albany Street, Edinburgh in 1845. He co-founded the Architectural Institute of Scotland c.1850 and remained an active member throughout his life. In 1848 the practice moved to 1 George Street, Edinburgh, then in 1856 to 12 Howe Street, Edinburgh. In the same year, Charles George Hood Kinnear (1830-1894), who had been articled to David Bryce (1803-1876) in 1849, was assumed into the partnership and the practice was renamed Peddie & Kinnear. The development of Cockburn Street (c. 1858-73) established the reputation of Peddie & Kinnear as leading practitioners of the Scots Baronial Style and led to numerous commissions for country houses. Churches were another key aspect of the practice’s work, and designs in the Collection reflect the great range of plan-types and styles within Scotland. Peddie & Kinnear undertook a great diversity of projects, including schools, civic buildings, hospitals, banks and insurance companies, hydropathical institutions and hotels. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Kinnear was obliged to devote more time to military duties and Peddie’s eldest son, John More Dick Peddie (1853-1921), became a leading light in the firm. J M Dick Peddie had received his initial training within the practice then gained further experience with George Gilbert Scott (1839-1897) in London before setting off on a Grand Tour. He returned to Edinburgh in 1875 and became partner in 1877, the practice becoming Peddie Kinnear & Peddie. Around 1880 his father retired and the practice was renamed Kinnear & Peddie. In 1896 George Washington Browne (1853-1939), a former partner of Sir Rowand Anderson (1834-1921), joined J M Dick Peddie in a loose partnership to form Peddie & Washington Browne. Browne had previously worked for John James Stevenson (1831-1908) and William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888) in London and was the first Scotsman to win the Pugin Travelling Scholarship of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1878. In 1924 he became the first architect elected as President of the Royal Scottish Academy and was knighted in 1926. The practice maintained its super status with Washington Browne and J M Dick Peddie at the helm, earning commissions for the headquarter buildings of some of the most prominent companies and institutions in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Peddie’s younger brother, Walter Lockhart Dick Peddie (1865-1902), worked in the practice throughout the 1880s and 1890s, briefly becoming a partner but dying at the age of 37. Browne left in 1908 and James Forbes Smith (1875-1957), who had trained in the offices of George Beattie & Son and Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, became a partner. In 1920 Smith was replaced by William James Walker Todd (1884-1944), who had been an articled apprentice to T P Marwick (1854-1957) and previously had his own practice in partnership with Sydney Houghton Miller (1883-1938). For a time, Miller also became a partner in Dick Peddie & Walker Todd, but he withdrew and in the 1930s Todd was joined by partners David John Chisholm (1885-1949) and George Lindsay Auldjo Jamieson (1905-c.1960). Jamieson had previously worked within his father’s practice, Jamieson & Arnott at 13 Young Street, Edinburgh, which had taken over the practice of Sydney Mitchell & Wilson when Mitchell retired in 1911. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Dick Peddie Todd & Jamieson designed modern housing estates in East Lothian and the Scottish Borders, as well as churches and schools. In 1942 the practice merged with Richardson & McKay. John Ross McKay (1884-1962) studied at Edinburgh College of Art, trained with Sir Robert Lorimer (1864-1929) and formed a partnership with James S Richardson (1883-1970), a colleague from Lorimer’s office, in 1920. Richardson became full-time principal inspector of Ancient Monuments in the same year but remained a partner in the practice. From 1942 to the mid 1950s the practice was called Dick Peddie McKay & Jamieson. In this period, two licentiates, Stanley Kennedy and Stanley W Edgar (1920-1991) worked under the direction of Jamieson and McKay respectively. C.1954, Jamieson retired early and McKay became ill. Edgar became senior partner and the practice then became known as Dick Peddie & McKay. Later partners included Ian Scott-Duncan (d.1986), Ronald R Malcolm, Colin R Campbell, Norman J Miller, and Michael C Henderson, who joined the practice in 1974. In 1987 the practice moved to 44 Constitution Street, Leith and in 1995 to 99 Giles Street, Leith. In October 1998 Dick Peddie & McKay moved to Society Place, West Calder, West Lothian.

Accruals No further accruals are expected.

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