James Gowans (architect)

James Gowan's tenement on Castle Terrace Edinburgh
James Gowan's window and door detail
The grave of Sir James Gowans, Grange Cemetery

Sir James Gowans (1 August 1821 – 25 June 1890) was a maverick Edinburgh architect and builder.

Life

Born in Blackness near Falkirk he was the son of a local mason Walter Gowans (1759–1858) his father being in his sixties when he was born. He studied under the Edinburgh architect David Bryce. In 1848 he married his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of James Mitchell a railway contractor. She died in the bath, in their home at 34 Rosebank Cottages, in what would appear unusual circumstances on 26 September 1858 and Gowans remarried. His second wife was Mary, daughter of William Brodie (sculptor).[1] He married Mary very soon after the death of his first wife and built "Rockville" on Napier Road for them to live in, his tour-de-force, including a fine five storey viewing tower. Sculpture in and around the house was by his father-in-law, William Brodie.

He suffered serious financial losses in 1875 due to heavy investment in his own project of the New Theatre Edinburgh, with Frederick Thomas Pilkington as co-investor. It was sold in 1877 to the United Presbetyrian Church for one third of its build cost. He became Edinburgh's Lord Dean of Guild in 1885 (holding the post until 1890)[2] and was largely responsible for organising the Edinburgh International Exhibition on The Meadows in 1886. He was knighted by Queen Victoria the following year on 18 August, in recognition of his contribution. He was particularly involved in railway building contracts and is famed for his unusual use of multiple stone types in any one building. He was bankrupted in 1888 following the Caledonian Railway's obstruction of a quarry extension at Redhall. He was forced to sell Rockville his masterpiece home and moved to a very modest house at 1 Blantyre Terrace where he died.

He is buried with his first wife, Elizabeth Mitchell, in the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh.[1] The grave lies against the north wall and is designed in Gowan's distinctive style. His second wife outlived him and is buried in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh.

Homes

Gowans had a habit of living in buildings he had built, perhaps receiving a property as part of his fee for many. His homes were:

Rockville

Standing on a prominent corner at Spylaw Road and Napier Road in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh this house has been described as "the strangest house ever built in Edinburgh".[3]

Local names for it included "The Pagoda", "The Chinese House", "Tottering Towers" and "Crazy Manor". It was a wild gingerbread house style affair with a five storey (64 foot) tower with viewing platform. Every dormer was in a different pattern and style, every chimney stack was highly elaborate and different from the next. Its gate lodge was like a Hansel and Gretel house. Both lodge and house included stones from every quarry in Scotland plus some Chinese stones to reflect its style. It was the "embodiment of a Gothic novel". But Gowans did not see it as frivolous or extravagant: it was built on a grid system with "no desire to create novelty". It was intended to create an economic and aesthetically pleasing result and certainly succeeded.

It sat in an acre of ground filled with statues by William Brodie his father-in-law.[4]

It had gas lighting in all rooms and elaborate interiors to match its extravagant exterior. Above the kitchen range it read "Waste not, Want not".

It was demolished in 1966 after a public outcry and 2500 signature petition attempted to save it (a rarity in those non-conservation-minded days) and replaced by three blocks of flats ("The Limes"). All that survives on site is its boundary wall and some gateposts. However one statue was removed and now sits on the lower path in West Princes Street Gardens: "The Genius of Architecture crowned by the Theory and Practice of Art".

List of Works

References

  1. 1 2 "James Gowans", Dictionary of Scottish architects. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  2. ↑ Memorial to Lord Deans of Guild, Edinburgh City Chambers
  3. ↑ Eccentric Edinburgh by JK Gillon; ISBN 0-948473-18-5
  4. ↑ "Dictionary of Scottish Architects - DSA Architect Biography Report (March 28, 2016, 3:42 pm)". www.scottisharchitects.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
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