Alexander Laing
Born13 June 1752
Died10 September 1823(1823-09-10) (aged 71)
Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Known forDesigning Scottish houses and castles

Alexander Laing (13 June 1752 – 10 September 1823)[1] was a Scottish architect who was mainly involved in house and castle design.

Peterhead's Old Parish Church, one of Laing's designs

Life

He appears to be the son of Thomas Laing (d.1774), a knife- and tool-maker who lived near the Theatre on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.[2]

Laing trained as a stonemason, and (as was typical in that age) was also styled "architect", and was based in Edinburgh;[3] He is first listed in Williamson's Edinburgh Directory of 1774 as a "Mason" living at Theatre Row (on the south side of the Royal Mile near the now Museum of Childhood).[4]

Laing married three times: first to Charlotte Polson in 1772, then to Margaret Turnbull in 1786, and finally to Beatrix Currie in 1789.[1]

He had a son, Francis (1 May 1773 – 24 November 1861),[5][6] with Charlotte. He also had a daughter, Jane, who married Captain Alexander Robertson in 1808.[7]

In 1795, Laing purchased the James Adam-designed 7 York Place, the manse for the adjacent St George's Chapel in Edinburgh, where he lived until 1818.[8]

He left York Place in 1818.[9] He moved to 6 Gayfield Place (a house of his own design) at the top of Leith Walk and was still living there in 1823.[10]

Laing died in Portobello in 1823, aged 71.[5][1]

Known works

Laing's works include:[11]

Langton Parish Church in Gavinton
Brechin Castle
Darnaway Castle

References

  1. 1 2 3 Alexander Laing at ScottishArchirects.org.uk
  2. ↑ Williamson's Street Directory 1773
  3. ↑ A Treatise on the Law of Scotland, respecting the Erection, Union, and Disjunction of Parishes; the Manses and Glebes of the Parochial Clergy, and the Patronage of Churches - Sir John Connell (1818)
  4. ↑ Williamson's Street Directory 1774
  5. 1 2 The Snell Exhibitions: From the University of Glasgow to Balliol College, Oxford - J. MacLehose & Sons (1901)
  6. ↑ Francis Laing - University of Glasgow
  7. ↑ The Scots Magazine, Volume 71 (Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran; 1809)
  8. ↑ Edinburgh, 7 York Place - Canmore.org.uk
  9. ↑ "7 York Place". Canmore. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1820
  11. ↑ Alexander Laing - Scottish Architects
  12. ↑ HES listed buildings in Edinburgh
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