Blackwell - The Arts and Crafts House - geograph

Blackwell - White Room Fireplace - geograph

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945) was a British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

. Through his long career, he designed in a variety of styles, including a style derived from the Tudor, an Arts and Crafts style reminiscent of Voysey and later the Neo-Georgian.

Early life

The son of a wealthy Scottish landowner, Scott was born at Beards Hill, St Peter's near

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, the second of ten children. He originally studied at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, but, having qualified in 1885, he decided to study architecture instead. He studied briefly in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, but his architectural development was especially marked by the 12 years he spent living in the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. The first four years of this time he lived at Alexander Terrace,

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

. In 1893, he and his family moved to Red House, Victoria Road, Douglas, which he had designed.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Scott worked with Fred Saunders, with whom he had studied at the Isle of Man School of Art, which is also in Douglas. In May 1891, he was an art teacher. It was at the school of art that Scott and Archibald Knox became friends. He then left Saunders and set up his own business in 23 Athol Street, Douglas. In 1894, in an article in '' The Studio'', he proposed a design having a high central hall with a galleried inglenook between the drawing and dining rooms and separated from them by

folding screen A folding screen, also known as pingfeng (), is a type of free-standing furniture consisting of several frames or panels, which are often connected by hinges or by other means. They have practical and decorative uses, and can be made in a variet ...

s. This hypothetical 'ideal house' brought in many commissions. Scott developed his own

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style however, which progressed towards a simple form of architecture, relying on truth to material and function, and on precise craftsmanship. Scott was known for the work he put into both the exterior and the interior, and its decoration. He produced nearly 300 buildings over the course of his career.

Notable buildings

* Bexton Croft, Knutsford, Cheshire, 1896, Grade II* listed *

Blackwell Blackwell may refer to: Places ;Canada * Blackwell, Ontario ;United Kingdom * Blackwell, County Durham, England * Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England * Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England * Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...

, Bowness, Cumbria, 1898–1900, Grade I listed * The White House, Helensburgh, Scotland, 1899, Category A * Home Close,

Sibford Ferris Sibford Ferris is a village and civil parish about west of Banbury in Oxfordshire. It is on the south side of the Sib valley opposite its larger sister village, Sibford Gower. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 476. History ...

, Oxfordshire, 1911 *

Snowshill Manor Snowshill Manor is a National Trust property located in the village of Snowshill, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. It is a sixteenth-century country house, best known for its twentieth-century owner, Charles Paget Wade, an eccentric who amassed ...

gardens, 1920–23 * Church Rate Corner (private house),

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, 1924, Grade II listed * Oakhams, 1942 (additions; his home) * Red House, Isle of Man * Woodbury Hollow, Loughton, Essex * Winscombe House, Crowborough, Sussex * Sandford House, Kilmany, Fife, Scotland, Category B * Majestic Hotel,

Onchan Onchan (; glv, Kione Droghad) is a village in the parish of Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, with wh ...

, Isle of Man (demolished)
White Lodge
Wantage, Oxfordshire *Chludzinski's Mansion, Lieskavičy, Šumilina district, Vitebsk region,

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

(derelicted

Family & Later life

He married Florence Kate Nash, a descendant of Beau Nash, on 1 February 1899 in Batheaston Parish Church, Somersset. They had two children: * Daughter, Enid Maud Mackay Baillie-Scott, born 26 November 1889 d. 1968 * Son, Mackay Hugh Baillie-Scott, born 13 May 1891 d. 1943 He died at the Elm Grove Hospital (now

Brighton General Hospital Brighton General Hospital is an acute general hospital on Elm Grove in Brighton, East Sussex. It is managed by Sussex Community NHS Trust. The main Arundel building is a Grade II listed building. History The hospital has its origins in the Brig ...

) in the Elm Grove area of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. His gravestone in Edenbridge, Kent reads: "Nature he loved and next to nature art".

References

External links