| Architect Details |
James Matthews, architect 1868; George Watt, architect 1923.
George Watt (who was not related to George Watt, partner in Brown & Watt) was born about 1871 in Aberdeen. Nothing is yet known of his education and training but he appears to have taken a salaried post in the Sanitary Department of Aberdeen Town Council about 1891 where he remained until about 1902. In that year or the year after he was taken into partnership by John Cameron as Cameron & Watt. John Cameron was a builder and surveyor of house property, appearing first as such in the Aberdeen Post Office directories in 1897-98 but after1899 he is listed as an 'architect and licensed valuator'. The Cameron & Watt partnership lasted until 1910 in which year George Watt set up business on his own at 267 Union Street where he remained until 1916-17. After the dissolution of the partnership Cameron also set up business on his own account and continued to work at the old practice address at 381 Union Street. Later he appears to have been joined by his son, the practice name becoming J & J Cameron. George Watt continued to practise on his own until 1935 when his former assistant Alexander Malcolm Stewart joined the practice and was taken into partnership. The name of the firm became George Watt & Stewart a year later. Alexander Malcolm Stewart was born about 1900 and was articled to George Watt in 1921. After the completion of his articles he remained as assistant, leaving to work in Inverness as assistant to Carruthers Ballantyne & Taylor in 1924 but returning to Aberdeen in 1935. George Watt died in 1947. The practice was continued by Alexander Malcolm Stewart as George Watt & Stewart until his retirement in 1974 and subsequently by various other partners. Throughout its history the practice's work has been dominated by schools. The centenary of the firm is to be celebrated in 2010.
James Matthews was born in December 1819, son of Peter Matthews, a teller in the Commercial Bank in Aberdeen and a Burgess of Guild, and was christened on 12 or 13 December that year. His mother was Margaret Ross, daughter of William Ross, the architect-builder who had built Union Bridge. Educated at Robert Gordon's Hospital, he was articled to Archibald Simpson in 1834, and worked under the supervision of Simpson's assistant Thomas Mackenzie (born 1814). In 1839 he went to George Gilbert Scott's in London. On his return early in 1844, Simpson offered him the post of chief assistant with the promise of partnership in two years. He declined as he thought Simpson would be 'too greedy' (the Mackenzies, however, found Matthews 'a bit of a Jew'). Matthews then formed his partnership with Thomas Mackenzie, initially with Mackenzie doing most of the designing in Elgin, and Matthews attending to the management of the Aberdeen office. In that year they won the competition for the Free Church College (New College) in Edinburgh, in a competition assessed by Sir Charles Barry. The perspective, formerly at Bourtie, is now in the possession of Professor Alistair Rowan. The competition was set aside, however, and the commission given to William Henry Playfair. Initially the Elgin practice was much more prosperous than the Aberdeen one and in 1848 Matthews applied unsuccessfully for the post of head of the Edinburgh office of the Office of Works. Mackenzie died of brain fever - apparently brought on by an accident - on 15 October 1854, Matthews continuing the practice thereafter under his name alone, though he did form a brief partnership with George Petrie of Elgin in c.1857. Petrie presumably filled the role of Mackenzie manning the Elgin end of the practice. Just before Mackenzie's death an Inverness office had been established with William Lawrie in charge as resident assistant. Although not made a partner until 1864, Lawrie was given what seems to have been a free hand in the design work and for some years the Inverness office was the more prosperous. Matthews continued the Aberdeen office alone, and it was not until 1877 that Mackenzie's son, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, was taken into partnership, having established a successful practice of his own in his native Elgin. Thereafter Matthews ran the practice as two separate partnerships - Matthews & Mackenzie in Aberdeen and Elgin, and Matthews & Lawrie in Inverness. When Lawrie died in 1887, the Inverness practice was inherited by John Hinton Gall (born 1848), who had been his chief assistant since 1872 and who continued the business under his own name, Matthews withdrawing completely from that branch of the firm. Matthews entered the Town Council in 1863, and retired as a councillor in 1871. In November 1883 he was recalled as Lord Provost and held office until November 1886. He was mainly responsible for implementing the City Improvement Act of 1883 which included building Schoolhill and Rosemount Viaduct and giving improved access to the latter area of the city. He was a director of the North of Scotland Bank, of which he was Chairman from time to time. His public services (in particular the Mitchell Tower and Graduation Hall) brought an Honorary LLD from the University of Aberdeen. In his later years Matthews lived in some grandeur at Springhill, which he had greatly altered for himself. Matthews retired from the practice in 1893 at the age of seventy-three, and died at 15 Albyn Terrace on 28 June 1898. He was buried in St Nicholas churchyard, where his monument records the earlier deaths of his daughter Margaret Rose Matthews on 18 May 1868, his son James Duncan Matthews on 21 November 1890 and his wife Elizabeth Duncan on 21 March 1895.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)