Alexander Thomson
Encyclopedia
Alexander "Greek" Thomson (9 April 1817 – 22 March 1875) was an eminent Scottish
architect
and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building. Although his work was published in the architectural press of his day, it was little appreciated outwith Glasgow
during his lifetime. It has only been since the 1950s and 1960s that his critical reputation has revived—not least of all in connection with his probable influence on Frank Lloyd Wright
.
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
wrote of Thomson in 1966: “Glasgow in the last 150 years has had two of the greatest architects of the Western world. C.R.Mackintosh
was not highly productive but his influence in central Europe was comparable to such American architects as Louis Sullivan
and Frank Lloyd Wright. An even greater and happily more productive architect, though one whose influence can only occasionally be traced in America in Milwaukee and in New York
and not at all as far as I know in Europe
, was Alexander Thomson.”
in Stirlingshire
. The son of John Thomson, a bookkeeper, and Elizabeth Cooper Thomson, he was the ninth of twelve children. His father, who already had eight grown children from his previous marriage, died when Alexander was seven. The family consequently moved to the outskirts of Glasgow, but tragedy struck when the eldest daughter, Jane, and three of her brothers died between 1828 and 1830, the year that Alexander's mother died. The remaining children moved with one of the older brothers, William, a teacher, and his wife and child to Hangingshaw, just south of Glasgow. The Thomson boys all worked from a young age, but the children were also home schooled. It is believed that Alexander worked in a lawyer's office, possibly Wilson, James, and Kays, where his older brother, Ebenezer, was employed as a bookkeeper and where he later became a partner in the business.
. In 1848 Thomson set up his own practice, Baird & Thomson, with John Baird II, who became his brother-in-law, and this firm lasted nine years. In 1857, as "the rising architectural star of Glasgow," he entered into practice with his brother George
where he was to enjoy the most productive years of his life. He served as president of both the Glasgow Architectural Society and the Glasgow Institute of Architects. Thomson was an elder of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
, and his deep religious convictions informed his work. There is a strong suggestion that he closely identified Solomon’s temple with the plan of the Greek basilica
.
He produced a diverse range of structures including villas, a castle, urbane terraces, commercial warehouse
s, tenements, and three extraordinary churches. Of these, Caledonia Road Free Church (1856–57 - now a ruin),
Queen's Park United Presbyterian Church (1869 - destroyed in WWII), and St Vincent Street Church (1859), the last is the only intact survivor. Hitchcock once stated, “[Thomson has built] three of the finest Romantic Classical churches in the world”. Thomson developed his own highly idiosyncratic style from Greek
, Egypt
ian and Levant
ine sources and freely adapted them to the needs of the modern city.
At the age of 34, Thomson designed his first and only castle, Craigrownie Castle, which stands at the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula in Cove, overlooking Loch Long
. The six-storey structure is Scots Baronial in style, featuring a central tower with battlements, steep gables
and oriel window
s, in addition to a chapel
and a mews
cottage.
Thomson's villa designs were realized at Langside
, Pollokshields
, Helensburgh
, Cove, the Clyde
Estuary , and on the Isle of Bute
. His "mature villas are Grecian in style while resembling no other Greek Revival houses,...[and they] are dominated by horizontal lines and rest on a strong podium." According to Gavin Stamp, "Thomson carefully designed his villas with symmetries within an overall asymmetry in a personal language in which the horizontal discipline of a continuous governing order—whether expressed or implied—was never abandoned. Regarding similarities to Frank Lloyd Wright, Stamp states, "It has often been remarked that there are clear resemblances between the early houses of the Prairie School
and Thomson's horizontally massed design, with its low-pitched gables and spreading eaves -- together with a connecting garden." As Sir John Summerson noted, "There is something wildly 'American' about Thomson -- a 'New World' attitude. You can see it in the villas...a sort of primitivism, ultra-Tuscan
."
Later in his career he would abandon his eclecticism and adopt the purely Ionic
Greek style for which he is best known, as such he is perhaps the last in a continuous tradition of British Greek Revival architects. In attacking the Gothic, he "insisted that 'Stonehenge
is really more scientifically constructed than York Minster
'...[alluding to] Pugin
's comment that in their temples 'the Greeks erected their columns like the uprights of Stonehenge'." Other important works still standing include Moray Place, Great Western Terrace, Egyptian Halls in Union Street, Grosvenor Building, Buck's Head Building in Argyle Street, Grecian Buildings in Sauchiehall Street
, Walmer
and Millbrae Crescent
s, and his villa, Holmwood House
, at Cathcart
.
Grave monuments designed by Thomson that are worthy of study include those to the Revd. A.O. Beattie and the Revd. G.M. Middleton, as well as that for John McIntyre in Cathcart Old Parish Cemetery.
Thomson was a visionary
who introduced into our vocabulary some of the essential elements of sustainable housing. This argument hinges on an unrealized design Thomson prepared in 1868 for the Glasgow City Improvement Trust, an agency of the Town Council given the task of redeveloping a large area of slum housing centred on the medieval Old Town. The Trust invited Thomson and five other prominent architects to propose designs for the reconstruction of various parcels of land along the spine of Glasgow's High Street
. Thomson suggested that closely spaced parallel tenements be built within the central courtyard, the ends of which will be open to facilitate ventilation
. He also proposed that alternate streets be glazed for better warmth and safety for the residents. Although Thomson's ideas failed to catch on at the time, new research and CAD techniques have helped show how revolutionary was his proposal for improved workers' housing.
and Pugin’s claims for the superiority of Gothic.
, in a double wedding
ceremony with her sister, Jessie, who married John Baird II. They had twelve children in total and would later lose five of them in an epidemic
. Thomson died on 22 March 1875 at his home in Moray Place in Strathbungo
, Glasgow, fittingly in one of his own creations. The architect was buried in the lair adjacent to that in which his five deceased children were laid to rest, in Gorbals Southern Necropolis
, on 26 March 1875, and he was joined there by his widow, Jane, in 1889.
One brother, George Thomson
(1819–1878), became a baptist
missionary
in Limbe, Cameroon (then known as "Victoria"), where he combined his religious activities with a passion for botany
. An epiphytic orchid of the Pachystoma
genus was named Pachystoma thomsonianum in his honour.
His nephew, Rev. William Cooper Thomson (fl.
1820–1880s) was a missionary in Nigeria
, after whom the bleeding-heart vine Clerodendrum thomsoniae was named.
was presented to the Corporation Galleries, Sauchiehall Street
, and is now displayed in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
. The Alexander Thomson Travelling Studentship, of which the second winner was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was established in his honor, "for the purpose of providing a travelling studentship for the furtherance of the study of ancient classic architecture, with special reference to the principles illustrated in Mr. Thomson’s works".
Thomson was the preeminent architect of his era in Glasgow, yet until recently, his buildings and his reputation have been largely neglected in the city graced by his works.
Holmwood House
is generally considered to be Thomson's finest and most original residential subject. Under the ownership of the National Trust for Scotland
, Holmwood has been restored to its original condition and opened to the general public. During the renovation, nineteen panels of a classical frieze
depicting scenes from Homer's Iliad
were discovered under layers of paint and wallpaper, rendering Thomson's nickname all the more apt.
In 1999, a retrospective
entitled Alexander Thomson: The Unknown Genius was held at the The Lighthouse
, reminding Glaswegians of the need to preserve the remaining examples of this unique architect's contribution to their city.
The British emigre architect George Ashdown Audsley
closely followed Thomson's ornamentation for several of his secular buildings. The most notable surviving example is his Bowling Green Offices (completed 1896) in New York City. The highly carved granite base of this tall office building is in the Thomson manner with brick Chicago School
style floors above.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building. Although his work was published in the architectural press of his day, it was little appreciated outwith Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
during his lifetime. It has only been since the 1950s and 1960s that his critical reputation has revived—not least of all in connection with his probable influence on Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
.
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Henry-Russell Hitchcock was the leading American architectural historian of his generation. A long-time professor at Smith College and New York University, he is best known for writings that helped to define Modern architecture.-Biography:...
wrote of Thomson in 1966: “Glasgow in the last 150 years has had two of the greatest architects of the Western world. C.R.Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, watercolourist and artist. He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main representative of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom. He had a considerable influence on European design...
was not highly productive but his influence in central Europe was comparable to such American architects as Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
and Frank Lloyd Wright. An even greater and happily more productive architect, though one whose influence can only occasionally be traced in America in Milwaukee and in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and not at all as far as I know in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, was Alexander Thomson.”
Early life
Thomson was born in the village of BalfronBalfron
Balfron, is a village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is situated near Endrick Water on the A875 road, 18 miles west of Stirling and 16 miles north of Glasgow. Although a rural settlement, it lies within commuting distance of Glasgow, and serves as a dormitory town.-History:The name...
in Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling is a registration county of Scotland, based around Stirling, the former county town. It borders Perthshire to the north, Clackmannanshire and West Lothian to the east, Lanarkshire to the south, and Dunbartonshire to the south-west.Until 1975 it was a county...
. The son of John Thomson, a bookkeeper, and Elizabeth Cooper Thomson, he was the ninth of twelve children. His father, who already had eight grown children from his previous marriage, died when Alexander was seven. The family consequently moved to the outskirts of Glasgow, but tragedy struck when the eldest daughter, Jane, and three of her brothers died between 1828 and 1830, the year that Alexander's mother died. The remaining children moved with one of the older brothers, William, a teacher, and his wife and child to Hangingshaw, just south of Glasgow. The Thomson boys all worked from a young age, but the children were also home schooled. It is believed that Alexander worked in a lawyer's office, possibly Wilson, James, and Kays, where his older brother, Ebenezer, was employed as a bookkeeper and where he later became a partner in the business.
Career
Alexander was eventually apprenticed to Glasgow architect Robert Foote, ultimately gaining a place in the office of John Baird as a draughtsmanTechnical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
. In 1848 Thomson set up his own practice, Baird & Thomson, with John Baird II, who became his brother-in-law, and this firm lasted nine years. In 1857, as "the rising architectural star of Glasgow," he entered into practice with his brother George
George Thomson (botanist)
George Thomson was a Scottish missionary in Cameroon who collected plants to send to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and to the British Museum.Thomson was born in Balfron, 16 miles north of Glasgow and trained as an architect...
where he was to enjoy the most productive years of his life. He served as president of both the Glasgow Architectural Society and the Glasgow Institute of Architects. Thomson was an elder of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, which in turn united with...
, and his deep religious convictions informed his work. There is a strong suggestion that he closely identified Solomon’s temple with the plan of the Greek basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
.
He produced a diverse range of structures including villas, a castle, urbane terraces, commercial warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s, tenements, and three extraordinary churches. Of these, Caledonia Road Free Church (1856–57 - now a ruin),
Queen's Park United Presbyterian Church (1869 - destroyed in WWII), and St Vincent Street Church (1859), the last is the only intact survivor. Hitchcock once stated, “[Thomson has built] three of the finest Romantic Classical churches in the world”. Thomson developed his own highly idiosyncratic style from Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian and Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
ine sources and freely adapted them to the needs of the modern city.
Loch Long
Loch Long is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The sea loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately 20 miles in length, with a width of between one and two miles...
. The six-storey structure is Scots Baronial in style, featuring a central tower with battlements, steep gables
Gables
Gables may refer to:* Gables, portion of walls between the lines of sloping roofs* Ken Gables , Major League Baseball pitcher* Gables, Nebraska, an unincorporated community in the United States...
and oriel window
Oriel window
Oriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
s, in addition to a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
and a mews
Mews
Mews is a primarily British term formerly describing a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above, built around a paved yard or court, or along a street, behind large city houses, such as those of London, during the 17th and 18th centuries. The word may also...
cottage.
Thomson's villa designs were realized at Langside
Langside
Langside is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, and lies east of Shawlands, south of Queens Park, west of Cathcart and north of Newlands. The district is residential and primarily middle-class, and has become an increasingly fashionable address in...
, Pollokshields
Pollokshields
Pollokshields is a district in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. It is a conservation area which was developed in Victorian times according to a plan promoted by the original landowners, the Stirling-Maxwells of Pollok, whose association with the area goes as far back as...
, Helensburgh
Helensburgh
Helensburgh is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde and the eastern shore of the entrance to the Gareloch....
, Cove, the Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
Estuary , and on the Isle of Bute
Isle of Bute
Bute is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Formerly part of the county of Buteshire, it now constitutes part of the council area of Argyll and Bute. Its resident population was 7,228 in April 2001.-Geography:...
. His "mature villas are Grecian in style while resembling no other Greek Revival houses,...[and they] are dominated by horizontal lines and rest on a strong podium." According to Gavin Stamp, "Thomson carefully designed his villas with symmetries within an overall asymmetry in a personal language in which the horizontal discipline of a continuous governing order—whether expressed or implied—was never abandoned. Regarding similarities to Frank Lloyd Wright, Stamp states, "It has often been remarked that there are clear resemblances between the early houses of the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
and Thomson's horizontally massed design, with its low-pitched gables and spreading eaves -- together with a connecting garden." As Sir John Summerson noted, "There is something wildly 'American' about Thomson -- a 'New World' attitude. You can see it in the villas...a sort of primitivism, ultra-Tuscan
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
."
Later in his career he would abandon his eclecticism and adopt the purely Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
Greek style for which he is best known, as such he is perhaps the last in a continuous tradition of British Greek Revival architects. In attacking the Gothic, he "insisted that 'Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
is really more scientifically constructed than York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
'...[alluding to] Pugin
Pugin
Pugin most commonly refers to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin , English architect and designer.Other members of his family include:...
's comment that in their temples 'the Greeks erected their columns like the uprights of Stonehenge'." Other important works still standing include Moray Place, Great Western Terrace, Egyptian Halls in Union Street, Grosvenor Building, Buck's Head Building in Argyle Street, Grecian Buildings in Sauchiehall Street
Sauchiehall Street
Sauchiehall Street is one of the main shopping/business streets in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, it forms the main shopping area of Glasgow, containing the majority of Glasgow's high street and chain stores.Although commonly associated with the...
, Walmer
Walmer Crescent
Walmer Crescent, situated in Cessnock, Glasgow, Scotland, consists of a curved row of spacious tenement flats and houses, designed by the architect Alexander Thomson and built between 1857 and 1862. The dwellings were originally occupied by rich merchants and businessmen. There is now a row of...
and Millbrae Crescent
Millbrae Crescent
Millbrae Crescent is a street located in Glasgow providing numerous examples of category A listed buildings thought to be designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson, or posthumously by his architectural partner, Robert Turnbull...
s, and his villa, Holmwood House
Holmwood House
Holmwood House is the finest and most elaborate residential villa designed byScottish architect Alexander "Greek" Thomson.It is also rare in retaining much of its original interior decor, and being open to the public....
, at Cathcart
Cathcart
Cathcart is an area of Glasgow between Mount Florida, King's Park, Muirend and Newlands. The White Cart Water flows through Cathcart, downstream from Linn Park....
.
Thomson was a visionary
Visionary
Defined broadly, a visionary, is one who can envision the future. For some groups this can involve the supernatural or drugs.The visionary state is achieved via meditation, drugs, lucid dreams, daydreams, or art. One example is Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century artist/visionary and Catholic saint...
who introduced into our vocabulary some of the essential elements of sustainable housing. This argument hinges on an unrealized design Thomson prepared in 1868 for the Glasgow City Improvement Trust, an agency of the Town Council given the task of redeveloping a large area of slum housing centred on the medieval Old Town. The Trust invited Thomson and five other prominent architects to propose designs for the reconstruction of various parcels of land along the spine of Glasgow's High Street
High Street (Glasgow)
High Street in Glasgow, Scotland is the city's oldest and one of its most historically significant streets.Originally the city's main street in medieval times, it formed a direct north-south artery between the Cathedral of St...
. Thomson suggested that closely spaced parallel tenements be built within the central courtyard, the ends of which will be open to facilitate ventilation
Ventilation (architecture)
Ventilating is the process of "changing" or replacing air in any space to provide high indoor air quality...
. He also proposed that alternate streets be glazed for better warmth and safety for the residents. Although Thomson's ideas failed to catch on at the time, new research and CAD techniques have helped show how revolutionary was his proposal for improved workers' housing.
Writings
Thomson's published writings include the Haldane lectures on the history of architecture (1874) and the Inquiry as to the Appropriateness of the Gothic Style for the Proposed building for the University of Glasgow (1866) which attempted to refute RuskinJohn Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and Pugin’s claims for the superiority of Gothic.
Family
On 21 September 1847, Thomson married Jane Nicholson, granddaughter of the architect Peter NicholsonPeter Nicholson (architect)
Peter Nicholson was a Scottish architect, mathematician and engineer. Largely self-taught, he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker but soon abandoned his trade in favour of teaching and writing...
, in a double wedding
Double Wedding
Double Wedding is a 1937 romantic comedy film. A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process....
ceremony with her sister, Jessie, who married John Baird II. They had twelve children in total and would later lose five of them in an epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. Thomson died on 22 March 1875 at his home in Moray Place in Strathbungo
Strathbungo
Strathbungo grew up as a small village built along the Pollokshaws Road, one of the main arteries leading southwards from the centre of Glasgow, adjoined by the Camphill Estate, now part of Queens Park...
, Glasgow, fittingly in one of his own creations. The architect was buried in the lair adjacent to that in which his five deceased children were laid to rest, in Gorbals Southern Necropolis
Gorbals Southern Necropolis
The Southern Necropolis is a cemetery in the Gorbals district of southern Glasgow, Scotland. It was opened in the year 1840 to provide an affordable and respectable place of burial for the people of Gorbals and the surrounding areas of the city of Glasgow...
, on 26 March 1875, and he was joined there by his widow, Jane, in 1889.
One brother, George Thomson
George Thomson (botanist)
George Thomson was a Scottish missionary in Cameroon who collected plants to send to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and to the British Museum.Thomson was born in Balfron, 16 miles north of Glasgow and trained as an architect...
(1819–1878), became a baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in Limbe, Cameroon (then known as "Victoria"), where he combined his religious activities with a passion for botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
. An epiphytic orchid of the Pachystoma
Pachystoma
Pachystoma is a genus of orchids . The genus has about 10 species, distributed over India, China, Indomalesia, northern Australia and several Pacific Islands ....
genus was named Pachystoma thomsonianum in his honour.
His nephew, Rev. William Cooper Thomson (fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1820–1880s) was a missionary in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, after whom the bleeding-heart vine Clerodendrum thomsoniae was named.
Legacy
The Glasgow Institute of Architects set up The Alexander Thomson Memorial immediately following his death. A marble bust of the architect by John MossmanJohn Mossman
John Mossman was one of a number of English sculptors who dominated the production and teaching of sculpture in Glasgow for 50 years after his arrival with his father and brothers from his native London in 1828...
was presented to the Corporation Galleries, Sauchiehall Street
Sauchiehall Street
Sauchiehall Street is one of the main shopping/business streets in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, it forms the main shopping area of Glasgow, containing the majority of Glasgow's high street and chain stores.Although commonly associated with the...
, and is now displayed in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. The building houses one of Europe's great civic art collections...
. The Alexander Thomson Travelling Studentship, of which the second winner was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was established in his honor, "for the purpose of providing a travelling studentship for the furtherance of the study of ancient classic architecture, with special reference to the principles illustrated in Mr. Thomson’s works".
Thomson was the preeminent architect of his era in Glasgow, yet until recently, his buildings and his reputation have been largely neglected in the city graced by his works.
Holmwood House
Holmwood House
Holmwood House is the finest and most elaborate residential villa designed byScottish architect Alexander "Greek" Thomson.It is also rare in retaining much of its original interior decor, and being open to the public....
is generally considered to be Thomson's finest and most original residential subject. Under the ownership of the National Trust for Scotland
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland describes itself as the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to...
, Holmwood has been restored to its original condition and opened to the general public. During the renovation, nineteen panels of a classical frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
depicting scenes from Homer's Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
were discovered under layers of paint and wallpaper, rendering Thomson's nickname all the more apt.
In 1999, a retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
entitled Alexander Thomson: The Unknown Genius was held at the The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse (Glasgow)
The Lighthouse in Glasgow, is Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. It was opened as part of Glasgow's status as UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999....
, reminding Glaswegians of the need to preserve the remaining examples of this unique architect's contribution to their city.
The British emigre architect George Ashdown Audsley
George Ashdown Audsley
George Ashdown Audsley was an accomplished architect, artist, illustrator, writer, decorator and pipe organ designer who excelled in many artistic fields but is perhaps best known today for having designed the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia.Born September 6, 1838 in Elgin, Scotland, apprenticed...
closely followed Thomson's ornamentation for several of his secular buildings. The most notable surviving example is his Bowling Green Offices (completed 1896) in New York City. The highly carved granite base of this tall office building is in the Thomson manner with brick Chicago School
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
style floors above.
External links
- The Alexander Thomson Society
- Alexander Greek Thomson - Architect
- Photo Guide to some of Thomson's best known buildings
- List of Thomson's buildings
- Webpage on Holmwood House
- St Vincent Street Free Church of Scotland, Glasgow
- Craig Ailey Villa, Cove, Firth of Clyde
- Canmore page featuring interior and exterior photographs of Caledonia Road Church