John Keppie (4 August 1862 – 28 April 1945) was a Glasgow architect and artist. From an early age he was a close friend of

Edward Atkinson Hornel Edward Atkinson Hornel (17 July 1864 – 1933) was a Scottish painter of landscapes, flowers, and foliage, with children. He was a cousin of James Hornell. His contemporaries in the Glasgow Boys called him Ned Hornel. Biography Hornel was born ...

and would often bring in New Year with him in Kirkcudbright. Within the architectural profession, he was closest to John Archibald Campbell, and is credited with training Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Biography

Keppie was born in Glasgow, the fourth son of John Keppie, a wealthy tobacco importer and Helen Cuthbertson Hopkins.

Articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

, in 1880, to ''

Campbell Douglas Archibald Campbell Douglas (usually simply referred to as Campbell Douglas) (14 June 1828 – 14 April 1910) was a Scottish architect based primarily in Glasgow. He designed many churches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, especially those for the Fre ...

and Sellars'', he attended classes at both

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...

. Three of his siblings including Jessie Keppie also studied art. He also appears to have enrolled at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

in 1885, remaining there until 1886. An accomplished draughtsman, he won silver medals in the Tite Prize competitions of 1886 and 1887. He assisted Sellars with the firm's winning entry for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888. Following Sellars death in 1888, Keppie went into partnership with

John Honeyman John Honeyman (1729August 18, 1822) was an American spy and British informant for George Washington, primarily responsible for spreading disinformation and gathering the intelligence crucial to Washington's victory in the Battle of Trenton. ...

, establishing the firm

Honeyman and Keppie Honeyman and Keppie was a major architectural firm based in Glasgow, created by John Honeyman and John Keppie in 1888 following the death of James Sellars in whose architectural practice Keppie had worked. Their most notable employee was Charles ...

. Mackintosh joined the firm in 1889 and from the 1890s Keppie appears to have been content to allow him to do most of the designing. It was whilst working for Honeyman and Keppie, who won the competition to design the new Art School building in 1896, that Mackintosh designed his greatest achievement.Terry, S. (2013)
Glasgow Almanac: An A-Z of the City and its People
' Neil Wilson Publishing. Retrieved March 2015 His design for

Martyrs' Public School The Martyrs’ Public School, in Parson Street in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the earlier works of architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Until recently, an arts centre run by Glasgow Museums, it is now home to Glasgow City Co ...

was also executed during this time (1895-1898). Mackintosh was made partner in 1901, and Keppie returned to design, producing a series of Scots Renaissance buildings throughout Glasgow. He was admitted to the FRIBA in 1904. The partnership with Mackintosh dissolved in 1913. The following year the company won a major competition for the reconstruction of

Glasgow Cross Glasgow Cross is at the hub of the ancient royal burgh and now city of Glasgow, Scotland, close to its first crossing over the River Clyde. As a major junction in the city centre, its five streets run: north up the High Street to Glasgow Cathed ...

. Keppie was elected to the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

in 1920, and continued to take an active role in professional matters, particularly as a governor of the

. He had been Deacon of the

Incorporation of Wrights Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation * Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student havin ...

at the

Trades House Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade or trading may also refer to: Geography * Trade, Tennessee, an unincorporated community, United States * Trade City, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community, United States * ...

in 1906 and president of the

Glasgow Institute of Architects 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 p ...

in 1905, and again in 1919-20. He endowed the John Honeyman Studentships in architecture and in Sculpture in 1923, and did much to promote the career of Benno Schotz. He was president of the

Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) is the professional body for architects in Scotland. History Previously the (lapsed) Architectural Institute of Scotland, it was re-founded in 1916 as the Incorporation of Architects ...

in 1924-26; and as a Council Member of the RIBA he became its vice president in 1929. Keppie's long service as a governor of Glasgow School of Art ended in his chairmanship in 1930-32. He formally retired in 1937.Oxford Paperbacks (2006) ''A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'
page 413
Oxford University Press. Retrieved March 2015 Keppie never married. He died at his home in

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

in 1945.

Commissions

: ''A full list of commissions can be accessed at John Keppie Dictionary of Scottish Architects''. * 1888 - Anderson's College of Medicine, "setting-up" commission from Douglas Campbell. * 1889 - Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company offices, Govan (assisted by the young Charles Rennie Mackintosh). Built in the French Renaissance style.Pender, P. (2012) ''The Butler Did It: My True and Terrifying Encounters with a Serial Killer'
page 17
Random House. Retrieved March 2015 * 1889 - expansion of Craigrownie parish church, Kilcreggan.Walker, F.A. & Sinclair, F. (2000) ''Argyll and Bute'' (Pevsner architectural guides: The buildings of Scotland), Yale University Press. Retrieved March 2015 * 1890 - designed an Egyptian-style granite monument in honour of James Sellars at Lambhill cemetery, for whom he was assistant at the time. * 1891 -

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. ...

Chapel, Musselburgh.McWilliam, C. (1978) ''Buildings of Scotland'' (Lothian, Except Edinburgh), Yale University Press. Retrieved March 2015 * 1891 - extending nave of a church in

Rhu Rhu (; gd, An Rubha ) is a village and historic parish on the east shore of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The traditional spelling of its name was ''Row'', but it was changed in the 1920s so that outsiders would pronounce it cor ...

. * 1892 - remodelled hall and added gallery to

Glasgow Art Club Glasgow Art Club is a club for artists and lay members with an interest in the arts, that has become over the generations "a meeting place for artists, business leaders and academics".Glasgow
'. Buildings of Scotland series. Yale University Press. Retrieved March 2015 * 1893 - remodelling of

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

building (Attributed to Mackintosh). * 1894 - refurbishment of

St Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow St. Michael's Parish Church is one of the largest burgh churches in the Church of Scotland. It is one of two parishes serving the West Lothian county town of Linlithgow, the other being St. Ninian's Craigmailen. St Michael is the town's patron ...

. * 1895 - medical building for

Isabella Elder Isabella Ure Elder (15 March 1828 – 18 November 1905) was a Scottish philanthropist who took a particular interest in education, especially of women, and in the welfare of the people of Govan in Glasgow. In Govan alone, Elder was responsib ...

's Queen Margaret College * 1903 - 137-43 Hope Street. * 1905 - McConnel's Building, Glendinning, M., MacInnes, R., MacKechnie, A. (1996) ''A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day'
page 573
Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved March 2015 * 1906 - 307-33 Hope Street. for the Glasgow City Improvement Trust. * 1908 - Glasgow Savings Bank, Parkhead. * 1910 - Gallery at

Broughton House Broughton House is an 18th-century town house standing on the High Street of Kirkcudbright, Scotland. It was the home of Scots impressionist artist E. A. Hornel between 1901 and his death in 1933. During this time Hornel remodelled the house ...

, Kirkcudbright. * 1927 - Glasgow Trades Hall refurbishment. * 1934 - Croftwood Parish Church

Gallery

File:Wfm mackintosh lighthouse.jpg, "The Lighthouse", Glasgow Herald building (1893) File:Glasgow Savings Bank - geograph.org.uk - 563061.jpg, Glasgow Savings Bank, Parkhead

References

External links

*''Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Biography Report'
John Keppie
*In the Artists Footsteps
John Kepple artworks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keppie, John 1862 births 1945 deaths 19th-century Scottish architects 20th-century Scottish architects People associated with Glasgow Architects from Glasgow Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Alumni of the University of Glasgow People from Prestwick