David Forbes Smith (1865–1923) was a Scottish architect of many of the Edwardian Baroque civic and

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

buildings in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Born in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

in 1865 he apprenticed as a carpenter before being articled to John Murray of Kirkcaldy as an architect from 1885 to 1888. He obtained a place in the newly formed partnership of Honeyman & Keppie in Glasgow, overlapping and being photographed in staff pictures with Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and was briefly in the office of Charles Davidson of Paisley before moving to

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

as chief assistant to the architect Fred Bath whose office he passed the qualifying exam in 1893. He was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects on 12 March 1894. In 1898 he returned to his home town, spending the remainder of his career running his own practice (in partnership with Adam Legge Johnston from 1920) until his death on 28 October 1923. He was a successful competitor in several architectural competitions, and his first listed work upon setting up his firm in Kirkcaldy was alterations to The Mechanics Institute, Dysart (now a

Category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

). Among his principal works were Strathearn House (now the Strathearn Hotel, a

) for the industrialist and philanthropist James Wishart, North School, Kirkcaldy; Viewforth High School, Kirkcaldy; blocks of the District Hospital and Kirkcaldy Burgh Infectious Diseases Hospital (now demolished parts of

Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy Victoria Hospital is a large hospital situated to the north of the town centre in Kirkcaldy, in Fife, Scotland. As one of two main hospitals in Fife, this serves both the town and surrounding Mid-Fife area. It is managed by NHS Fife. History ...

); and Pathhead Baptist Church.{{Cite web, title=Pathhead Baptist Church – Kirkcaldy and Dysart, Fife – Places of Worship in Scotland {{! SCHR, url=http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/8397/name/Pathhead+Baptist+Church+Kirkcaldy+and+Dysart+Fife, access-date=8 November 2020, website=www.scottishchurches.org.uk His partner Adam Legge Johnston continued the practice until his death in 1955.

References

1923 deaths 19th-century Scottish architects 20th-century Scottish architects Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1865 births People from Kirkcaldy