R W Forsyth by William Reid Dick, People's Palace, Glasgow

Building at the corner of Renfield Street and Gordon Street - geograph

The grave of R W Forsyth, Craigton Cemetery, Glasgow

R. W. Forsyth's often just called Forsyth's, is a group of Scottish department stores, the largest being at 26 - 30

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

R. W. Forsyth

Robert Wallace Forsyth was born

Haddington, East Lothian The Royal Burgh of Haddington ( sco, Haidintoun, gd, Baile Adainn) is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is ...

in 1843 the son of Alexander Forsyth (1804-1878). He moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 1862 where he set up business selling socks, gloves and shirts on Renfield Street. Highly successful he acquired a group of buildings on the corner of Renfield Street and Gordon Street where, in 1897, he commissioned a bespoke

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

designed by architect John James Burnet. The store was the first major store in Glasgow to have electric lighting throughout. It closed in 1983 and relocated to a building on Sauchiehall Street before closing altogether. In 1906 he expanded the business with a second major store in Edinburgh. He died on 31 January 1937 and is buried in

Craigton Cemetery Craigton Cemetery is a cemetery in south-west Glasgow dating from the mid-19th century. It stands on Berryknowes Road. The cemetery has a Jewish section containing 230 graves. The cemetery also contains 251 commonwealth war graves from the Fir ...

in south-west

. He was married to Martha Sproull and they had thirteen children.

Edinburgh store History and architecture

The second building, erected as an Edinburgh flagship store in 1906–1907, was again designed by the Scottish architect John James Burnet. An extension, designed by the architects Burnet, Son & Dick was built in 1925. The facade is decorated with Neo-Baroque sculpture. At the corner on a ledge above the third floor, and directly above the entrance doors, stands a figure of a woman who holds a sewing machine. Also at the corner, and forming part of windowed aedicules at the second floor, are flanking tympanum relief sculptures of a longhaired figure driving a quadriga with an F (for Forsyth) on the front of the chariot. Running along an eaves gallery at the top of the building is a series - six on the Princes Street side, and four on the South St Andrews Street side - of term figures with fantastical heads by the Scottish sculptors

William Birnie Rhind William Birnie Rhind RSA (1853–1933) was a Scottish sculptor. Life Rhind was born in Edinburgh on 27 February 1853 as the first son of sculptor John Rhind (1828–1892), and his wife, Catherine Birnie. He was the elder brother of J. Ma ...

and William Reid Dick. On top of the corner tower sits a gigantic partly gilded steel sculpture of armillary sphere decorated with the signs of the zodiac and with three dancing putti, designed by the English sculptor

Gilbert Bayes Gilbert William Bayes (4 April 1872 – 10 July 1953) was an English sculptor. His art works varied in scale from medals to large architectural clocks, monuments and equestrian statues and he was also a designer of some note, creating chess piec ...

.The sphere was taken down in 2012, see : https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/lost-edinburgh-reinstating-forsyth-sphere-1514584 , and restored and reinstated in 2016, see : https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/forsyth-sphere-restored-ahead-return-edinburgh-skyline-618362

Gallery

File:Figure driving a quadriga, Princes Street facade, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, ''Figure driving a quadriga'', Princes Street facade, Forsyth's File:Term figure no. 3, Princes Street facade, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, Term figure no. 3, Princes Street facade, Forsyth's File:Term figure no. 4, Princes Street facade, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, Term figure no. 4, Princes Street facade, Forsyth's File:Term figure no. 5, Princes Street facade, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, Term figure no. 5, Princes Street facade, Forsyth's File:Sculpture of armillary sphere with zodiac and three putti, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, Sculpture of armillary sphere with zodiac and three putti, Forsyth's File:Term figure no. 2, South St Andrew’s Street façade, 30 Princes Street and South St Andrew’s Street, formerly Forsyth’s, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, Term figure no. 2, South St Andrew's Street façade, Forsyth's File:Woman holding a sewing machine, Forsyth’s, corner of Princes Street and South St. Andrew’s Street, Edinburgh. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg, ''Woman holding a sewing machine'', Forsyth's, corner of

and South St. Andrew's Street

References

{{coord, 55, 57, 11, N, 3, 11, 31, W, type:landmark_region:GB-EDH, display=title Buildings and structures in Edinburgh Buildings and structures completed in 1907 Department store buildings in the United Kingdom Department stores of the United Kingdom Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh