William Leiper FRIBA RSA

Royal Scottish Academy

The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...

 (1839-1916) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 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...

 notable particularly for his work in the west central Lowlands

Central Lowlands

The Central Lowlands or Midland Valley is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland. It consists of a rift valley between the Highland Boundary Fault to the north and the Southern Uplands Fault to the south...

 of Scotland

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...

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Career

Leiper was born in Glasgow and trained with local architectural firm Boucher & Cousland before competing his training in London with W White and JL Pearson. A turning point in his career came when he was aged 26 and won the commission to build Dowanhill Church in Glasgow's Hyndland

Hyndland

Hyndland is a residential area in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland.Bordering the Broomhill, Maryhill, Dowanhill, Kelvinside and Partickhill areas, it is a middle-class area populated mainly by professionals and young bourgeois bohemians including a number of noted authors, poets,...

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Work

In his native 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...

, Leiper was responsible for Templeton's Carpet Factory

Templeton On The Green

Templeton On The Green, also known as Templeton Business Centre, is a distinctive building near the People's Palace, in Glasgow, Scotland.The building was designed and built as a carpet factory for James Templeton and Son....

 and the Sun Life Building on West George Street, the banqueting hall of Glasgow City Chambers

Glasgow City Chambers

The City Chambers in Glasgow, Scotland has functioned as the headquarters of Glasgow City Council since 1996, and of preceding forms of civic government in the city since 1889, located on the eastern side of the city's George Square...

  as well as a number of churches. He also had a reputation for designing residential properties in the city and nearby. His notable works are primarily part of the Arts and Crafts Movement

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

 or in the Gothic Revival style

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

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Leiper was responsible for the design of St Columba's Church and Auchenbothie House in the village of Kilmacolm

Kilmacolm

Kilmacolm is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley south-east of Greenock and around west of the city of Glasgow...

, Renfrewshire

Renfrewshire (historic)

Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a registration county, the Lieutenancy area of the Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire, and one of the counties of Scotland used for local government until 1975. Renfrewshire is located in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland, south of the River Clyde,...

, and a number of works in 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....

, Dunbartonshire

Dunbartonshire

Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Until 1975 it was a county used as a primary unit of local government with its county town and administrative centre at the town...

. One of his residential commissions became the most expensive house sold in the latter town in 2008.

He also worked on the interior of the Russian imperial yacht, Livadia

Livadia (yacht, 1880)

The Livadia was an imperial yacht of the House of Romanov built in 1879–1880 to replace a yacht of the same name that had sunk off the coast of Crimea in 1878. The new Livadia, intended for service on the Black Sea, was a radically novel ship conceived by Vice Admiral Andrey Popov, designed by...

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