Alexander David McLees (9 November 1945- 14 June 2020). was a British architectural historian. He was a director in the Executive Committee of the

Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB) is a United Kingdom learned society for people interested in the history of architecture. Purpose The Society exists to encourage interest in the history of architecture, to enab ...

(SAHGB) from 1998 to 2001. He wrote the Cadw guide for

Castell Coch (; ) is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the village of in South Wales. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and control the route along the Taff G ...

, a historic building in Cardiff.

Early life and education

Alexander David McLees was born in St Andrews Fife, Scotland. He was the son of Alexander Gray McLees and Mary Adamson Syrmington. His mother was a school teacher and his father was a teacher and then deputy rector in

Madras College Madras College, often referred to as Madras, is a Scottish comprehensive secondary school located in St Andrews, Fife. It educates over 1,400 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and was founded in 1833 by the Rev. Dr Andrew Bell. History Madras ...

in St Andrews. McLees studied at Madras, as did his older sister Margaret. McLees played on the college rugby team from 1962 to 1964. In 1964 he won the college's Coronation Medal for History. In 1969 he was awarded a Master of Arts degree by the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in London, where his MA dissertation was on parish church architecture in Gloucestershire. – The thesis is on shelf at the Courtauld under the class mark A969.GLO MCL

Work and research

In 1972, McLees won the Reginald Taylor and Lord Fletcher essay prize from the

British Archaeological Association The British Archaeological Association (BAA) was founded in 1843 and aims to inspire, support and disseminate high quality research in the fields of Western archaeology, art and architecture, primarily of the mediaeval period, through lectures, co ...

. In 1978, he became a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

. McLees’ most notable work is perhaps the Cadw guide to

, written in 1988. The guide has had two further editions: one published in 2005, and the other in 2018. In his research he gained access to previously unseen archive photography showing Castell Coch had commercial vineyards, something quite rare in Britain until the 1930s. After this first collaboration with Cadw, McLees became an Inspector of Historical Buildings for the Welsh agency. McLees worked for Cadw again in 2013 in a campaign to preserve traditional Welsh

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s. He wrote a booklet about the historical value of such houses, with guidance on their care and preservation. McLees died in June 2020.

Bibliography

* * McLees, D. (1972) 'Henry Yevele: disposer of the King's Works of masonry' ''(JBAA,'' 3rd ser., XXXVI (1973), 52-72). * McLees, D. (1988). ''Castell Coch''. Cadw. * Jeremy Knight, John B. Hilling, Jeremy Knight, Jeremy Knight, Jack Spurgeon, Keith Kissack, John R. Kenyon & David McLees (1993) Castles, Archaeological Journal, 150:sup1, 26-43, DOI: 10.1080/00665983.1993.11785942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLees, David 1945 births 2020 deaths British historians People from St Andrews