Mackenzie & Matthews, Matthews & Lawrie, and Mackenzie & Matthews were three well-known Scottish partnerships. The oldest of the architects was Thomas Mackenzie (1814-1854), who entered into partnership with James Matthews (1819-1898) in 1844. Mackenzie was based in Elgin, where he seems to have done most of the designing, while Matthews was based in Aberdeen, and managed an office there. Just before Mackenzie's untimely death, a new office was opened in Inverness. William Lawrie (c.1821-1887) was put in charge there as resident assistant, and this arrangement continued after Thomas Mackenzie died. Matthews finally made him a partner only in 1864, even though he had been responsible for design work in the Inverness office for the past twenty years — and the office there had had some considerable success.
The constant factor in these partnerships, Matthews himself remained in Aberdeen. More than a dozen years later, in 1877, he took Thomas Mackenzie's son Alexander Marshall Mackenzie (1848-1933), then working as an architect in Elgin, into partnership. After that, there were to all intents and purposes two quite separate partnerships — the well-established practice of Matthews & Lawrie in Inverness, and the newer one of Matthews & Mackenzie in Aberdeen and Elgin.
This situation continued until Lawrie died in 1887, at which point the Inverness practice his chief assistant took over that practice. So in the later nineteenth century it was run by John Hinton Gall (1848-1929). It was Gall who restored the old Mercat Cross in 1900. But, of all these architects, the younger Mackenzie would prove the most successful. He designed the towering granite Marischal College Extension in Aberdeen (1893-1903), and from his London office came, amongst others, the Waldorf Astoria and Australia House. — Jacqueline Baneree
Works
- (Former) Caledonian Bank, Inverness (Mackenzie & Matthews, 1847)
- Victorian Market, Inverness (Matthews & Lawrie, 1870)
- Town House, Inverness (Matthews & Lawrie, 1878-82)
Bibliography
"Alexander Marshall Mackenzie." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
Anderson, George. Guide to the Highlands and islands of Scotland including Orkney and Zetland, descriptive of their scenery, statistics, antiquities, and natural history. Containing also directions for visiting the Lowlands of Scotland, with descriptive notices, and maps.... Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1850. Internet Archive. Contributed by University of California Libraries. Web. 9 January 2018.
Gifford, John. Highland and Islands. The Buildings of Scotland. London: Penguin, 1992.
Glendinning, Miles and Aonghus MacKechnie. Scottish Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
"James Hinton Gall." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
"James Matthews." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
"Matthews & Lawrie." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
"Thomas Mackenzie." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
"William Lawrie." DSA (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Web. 9 January 2018.
Created 8 January 2018