Archibald Simpson

Archibald Simpson (4 May 1790 – 23 March 1847) was a Scottish architect, who along with his rival John Smith, is regarded as having fashioned the character of Aberdeen as "The Granite City".

Life and work

Early life Archibald Simpson was born at 15 Guestrow, Aberdeen on 4 May 1790, the ninth and last child of William Simpson (1740–1804), a clothier at Broadgate, and his wife Barbara Dauney (c.1750 - 1801), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. The family house at Guestrow is thought to have been built by his uncle William Dauney, who was a master mason. The house was later demolished in 1930.

Simpson attended Aberdeen Grammar School as a contemporary of Byron, who lived nearby in Broadgate. At 13 he entered Marischal College but left after a year, on the death of his father, to work in the office of James Massie, a builder at Castlehill, having been influenced so by his uncle William Dauney.

Due to being born lame in his left arm, his father left him a legacy of £200 with which at the age of 20 he went to London to be apprenticed to architect Robert Lugar and later David Laing. After two years Simpson left to embark on a study tour of Italy, returning to Aberdeen in 1813 to start an architectural practice in his old house at 15 Guestrow.

Architectural practice

Simpson first established his practice in 1813 at his old childhood home at 15 Guestrow. He later moved to premises at 130 Union Street, where in 1826 he lost his entire archive of drawings in a fire which destroyed the building, forcing him to move his office to 8 Belmont Street and later to 22 Crown Street - where the former Post Office building now stands - before later moving to live at 15 Bon Accord Street and practicing from his office at 1 Bon Accord Street.

multiple image

image1 = Aberdeen Church ruin.jpg caption1 =Three Free Churches (1844), built as result of the Disruption of 1843, with evidence of German stylistic influence image2 = Elisabethkirche Marburg.jpg caption2 =Elisabethkirche, Marburg, Germany (1340)

Architectural style

Simpson specialized in the Grecian style, although he also in adopted Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Tudor and Hanseatic architectural styles, depending on the nature of the sight or what a client requested. Together, he and John Smith worked on a granite street architecture that was to influence the quality of development for a further century.

The city has a Wetherspoons pub located on the corner connecting Union Street to King Street named in his memory.

Works Works include: 1819 Lunatic Asylum 1820 Medico-Chirurgical Building 1820 Assembly Rooms (Music Hall) 1822 Gordon Castle Chapel 1822 Boath House, Nairnshire 1822 Park House 1822 Heathcote House 1822 Haddo House (Additions), for the Earl of Aberdeen 1822 Huntly Lodge (Alterations), for the Duchess of Gordon 1823 Athenaeum 1823 Bon-Accord Terrace, Square and Crescent, for the Tailor Incorporation 1824 Durris House (Additions) 1827 Pitlurg House, for General Gordon Cumming, Skene 1827 Tillery House 1827 Letham Grange, Angus 1827 Morkeu House 1827 School in Edinburgh 1827 Skene House (Additions) 1827 Stracathro House, Angus, for Alex Cruickshank 1828 St Giles' Church, Elgin 1829 Masonic Halls and Assembly Rooms, Forres 1830 Woodside Free Church 1830 Anderson Institution, Elgin 1830 Plan for the development of Ferryhill, for the Shoemaker Incorporation. Part of Marine Terrace executed before he died. 1831 Castle Newe (Now Demolished) 1831 Plan for the development of the West End (Not executed) 1831 Plan for the opening-up of the Guestrow area – centring the spire of St Nicholas with the old entry to Marischal College. 1831 Wooden bridge over the Spey at Fochabers, for the Duke of Gordon 1832 Craig Castle (Additions) 1832 Royal Infirmary 1833 St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Banff 1835 East Church of St Nicholas (Not the tower) 1835 Episcopal Church, Fochabers, for the Duchess of Gordon 1835 Murtle House 1835 Dr. Bell's School, Frederick Street 1836 Drumoak Parish Church 1839 Westburn House, Aberdeen 1840 Mrs Emslie's Institution (Girl's High School) 1840 Crimonmogate House for merchant Patrick Milne 1840 Lessendrum House (Destroyed by fire) 1840 Meldrum House (Additions) 1840 The Gordon Schools, Huntly, for the Duchess of Gordon 1840 Glassaugh House 1840 Pittodrie House (Additions) 1840 28 Albyn Place, Aberdeen 1840 Carnoustie House (Demolished) 1840 North of Scotland Bank, Huntly 1842 New Market and Market Street layout, for the New Market Co. (Demolished) 1843 Post Office, Market Street 1844 North of Scotland Bank (Head Office), now a pub owned by J D Wetherspoon called the Archibald Simpson 1844 Marischal College 1844 Three Free Churches (The Triple Kirks) 1844 Free Church, Rothesay 1844-5 Projected Railway Scheme 1845 Lunatic Asylum (Extension) 1846 Mechanics Institute 1846 Union Bank, Lerwick (His last work?) 1846 Big Street Improvement Scheme