Hugh Scott (architect) explained

Hugh Jamieson Scott (1875–1930) was a Belfast-born architect who practised in Africa and Australia.

Personal life

Scott was born at Elgin Terrace, Limestone Road, Belfast in 1875 to Northern Irish parents who later settled in East Orange, New Jersey in the United States.[1] His father, John Alexander Scott, who was a businessman in the linen trade, died there in 1882 when Hugh was just seven.[2] With his mother and six siblings he returned to live in Belfast where he was educated at Methodist College. After completing his articles in Belfast and Liverpool, he moved to Southern Africa in 1896.[3] Following his marriage in Johannesburg in 1906 to Madeleine Caldecott, he and his new wife sailed for Australia in late 1907.[4] With their first daughter, who was born on the voyage, they settled in Armidale where Scott conducted a sole practice. In 1914 he moved to Sydney where he was employed until 1916. He and his family (now including three daughters) then moved to Brisbane where his last child, another daughter, was born. Scott worked in Brisbane until a year before his death in 1930.[5] Throughout his time in Africa and Australia, Scott was heavily involved in civic affairs including elected membership of local government councils.

Career

Having finished his articles with Belfast builder Dixon & Co., Scott moved to Southern Africa in 1896 to undertake work associated with the Cape to Cairo railway.[6] When, in 1903, a seven foot high granite Celtic cross designed by Scott was erected at the grave of Mother Patrick (Mary Anne Cosgrave) in Harare cemetery he was described as a "Salisbury Irishman" so, presumably, he lived in Harare at that time.[7] The entry for Mother Patrick in the Dictionary of Irish Biography reveals that she was a pioneer Dominican who established the first hospital and European school - the Dominican Convent High School - in Harare. The original mortuary from her hospital is now a museum designated as Zimbabwe National Monument number 140.[8] Unfortunately, Mother Patrick's memorial cross is the only known record of Scott's work in Africa. Around 1903, after involvement in the Boer War, Scott established an architectural practice in Middelburg, Mpumalanga (formerly Eastern Transvaal). During his time there he was a member of the Middelburg Town Council.[9] With depressed conditions prevailing in Middelburg, Scott and his wife emigrated to Australia where he established his practice in Armidale in 1908.[10] There he undertook a wide range of work including the design of hotels, shops, schools, station homesteads, town houses, public halls, and a church. Scott left Armidale in 1914 to work at the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. In 1916 he moved with his family to Wynnum, an outer suburb of Brisbane where he obtained employment with the Queensland State Government Department of Works. Employed initially as a Temporary Draftsman he eventually became Senior Quantity Surveyor - a position he held until 1929 when ill health prompted his retirement.[11] On 23 July 1921 Scott was elected as an Alderman of the Wynnum Town Council - the last such council before the 1924 amalgamation of councils to form the City of Brisbane.[12] It appears that in 1921 Scott was the first of a handful of architects who successfully sought permission to bypass Workers' Dwelling Board architects so that they could design their own home to be built under the Workers' Dwelling Board's provisions for the owner to take out a mortgage from the state of Queensland.[13]

Practice in Armidale, New South Wales

During the six years of his practice in Armidale, Scott produced a large body of work, most of which was described in the local newspapers. His projects, numbering more than 45 in total, included: the design of two hotels and substantially remodelling three more; extensions to, and a mortuary building for the Armidale hospital; design of more than 12 residences in Armidale, Guyra, Uralla and other district towns; seven station homesteads; shops in Armidale and Guyra; schools in Armidale and Uralla; two Armidale public halls; two office blocks; the stewards’ stand and tea-room at the Armidale Race Course; a church; a produce store; and a shearing shed.Scott's only known collaboration with another architect was when he joined with Jack Hennessy of Sydney to design St Mary's School in Armidale's Catholic Cathedral precinct.[14] Already a member of the Royal Society of Arts, London and of the Architectural Association, London, the initials for both of which he used as post nominals, Scott was honoured with admission as Fellow of the newly created Institute of Architects of New South Wales (FIA) in 1912.[15]

Architectural style

Consistent with the custom of the time for a small architectural practice in a rural community, Scott produced a wide range of work using a variety of styles and materials. While most of his larger structures were of brick, timber was the material of choice for many of his domestic-scale designs. Today, most of his work would be described as being in the Federation style.

Much of Scott's work featured an eclectic mix of late Victorian detail applied to asymmetric structures – some with more brutal Edwardian form.[16] His work was not adventurous – in the sense that he largely ignored Arts and Crafts influences and the bolder Federation statements such as are often seen in the Queen Anne style. Like the work of many immigrant architects his buildings would have been seen as fitting in easily with the existing building stock at the time. It is probable that his knowledge of South African colonial architecture would have stood him in good stead in creating designs suited to Armidale.

Legacy

Although many commercial buildings have been demolished, most of the Armidale and district buildings Scott designed are standing today, as is Mother Patrick's monument in Harare. The survival of the Armidale works is testament to the effect of moderate population growth in preserving the built environment, and the respect that Armidale and district residents have for their heritage. A number of his buildings are heritage listed by local government.

List of works

Apart from the Harare monument and the Wynnum house, each of the works listed below was described at least once in the Armidale and district press; for each work there is a reference to a publication and a date. Abbreviations: AC: Armidale Chronicle; AE&NEGA: Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser; FJ: Freeman’s Journal (Sydney); GA: Guyra Argus. More than 150 newspaper articles dealing with Scott have been tagged “Hugh Jamieson Scott” on Trove.

Works heritage listed by local government

Other works

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. See his birth certificate for the "District of Belfast Urban 2", serial number U/1875/48/1007/14/3.
  2. See John Alexander Scott's death notice from the Belfast Evening Telegraph 3 January 1883 at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~econnolly/btextracts/bt18830100.html accessed 21 5 19.
  3. See entry for Scott, Hugh Jamieson in Watson, Donald; McKay, Judith, A Directory of Queensland architects to 1940, University of Queensland Fryer Library, Occasional Publication no. 5, St Lucia, 1984. Available at https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:151975 accessed 30 5 2019.
  4. A record of the Scott - Caldecott marriage can be found on the "British 1820 Settlers to South Africa" website under "Transcribed Marriage Entries for Scott" at https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/settlerbrowsemarrs.php?name=SCOTT accessed 26 5 2019.
  5. Obituaries for Scott were published in the Brisbane Courier and The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser on 7 4 1930.
  6. Scott is listed in Ars quatuor coronatorum : being the transactions of the Lodge Quatuor Coronati, no. 2076, London, Vol. 14, 1901 as a Brother whose address was Box, 103 Salisbury, Rhodesia (p.56). Available at https://archive.org/details/arsquatuorcorona14free accessed 21 5 2019.
  7. See entry for Cosgrave, Mary Anne (Patrick) in Dictionary of Irish Biography at https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do;jsessionid=35441D39F066BB2681CC302C96E1075B?articleId=a2073 accessed 21 5 2019.
  8. See "Mother Patrick's Mortuary (1895)" at http://zimfieldguide.com/harare/mother-patrick%E2%80%99s-mortuary-1895 accessed 21 5 2019
  9. For a description of Middelburg during Scott's time there see Praagh, L.V., The Transvaal and its mines: the encyclopedic history of the Transvaal, Praagh and Lloyd, London, 1906 at https://archive.org/details/transvaalitsmine00praa accessed 27 5 2019. On page 435 there is a photograph of the 1905 Middelburg Town Councillors.
  10. See Armidale Express, 24 April 1908 for an account of a testimonial made by prominent citizens of Middelburg on Scott’s departure for Australia. Inter alia, this tells of Scott designing a number of fine buildings in Middelburg as well as being a member of its Town Council.
  11. For a resume of Scott's career see entry for Scott, Hugh Jamieson in Watson, Donald; McKay, Judith, A Directory of Queensland architects to 1940, University of Queensland Fryer Library, Occasional Publication no. 5, St Lucia, 1984. Available at https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:151975 Accessed 30 5 2019.
  12. See The Brisbane Courier 26 July 1921
  13. See Judy Gale Rechner, "Houses for Queenslanders of small means? Workers' Dwellings in Old Coorparoo Shire 1910-40", Thesis submitted to the Department of History, The University of Queensland for the degree of Master of Arts, March, 1998, p. 36 n, at https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_185255/the12693.pdf?Expires=1559273863&Signature=ORQ2XgyFdAKF-RsxHIOEMvVAPJAiyxBwv6V89q9JkUDQFgcLDyZqQ2CQE74bG0epOCPNlGt8ZlZ4U5~RzCBIrLiYYG3Vow0IbcdMXTRDYrsUsm8YMz9qsAeYGhOsyQf-m2uSFUmuUYOaypZQCOk6Z1oEFZ2b4QUKNwpXPqNf~-T8v0BN~44YvertXTVhAr5xh~oX6ZX1tAIzFzzPZ8qwSCMAF9TtdRaMZTG~G2Ff0vOdcqC8pRg0wjnNES5XP9TDY0NpqcflGHsOZY-gOLZ7GpL-6hRE~y5xWeHYjj~7KVO6x7DmyxVe4XVhxcVL4XhPjuc~mIFtohT9OnO0IniXhQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ accessed 21 5 2019
  14. See Armidale Chronicle 7 May 1913.
  15. See Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser 5 April 1912.
  16. Heather Burke, using Armidale as the basis for a study of Australian historical archaeology, cites Scott's "Violet Hill" as an example of a building which is ostensibly symmetrical but in reality asymmetrical. Burke, H., Meaning and Ideology in Historical Archaeology, Springer, Boston, MA, 1999, pp. 158-60.
  17. The name should be Cordatos. See Peter Tsicalas' contribution to Kythera family history at http://www.kythera-family.net/en/history/general-history/northern-nsw-8 accessed 9 5 2019.
  18. See Woods, J., ed., The Mashonaland Irish Association: A Miscellany 1891-2019, Weaver Press, Zimbabwe, 2019, p. 67. The orange tree represents the practice of the Dominican sisters to plant fruit trees wherever they went. See "Mother Patrick's Mortuary (1895)" at http://zimfieldguide.com/harare/mother-patrick%E2%80%99s-mortuary-1895 accessed 21 5 2019.

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