Robert Paterson (1825–1889) was a 19th-century

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

. His most famous work is the Cafe Royal in

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 ...

. Almost all his works are in Edinburgh, mainly in the

Scots Baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

style, including a number of churches for the United Presbyterian Church.

Life

He was born at 13 Richmond Place in south

the son of Robert Paterson (1790–1846), a builder, architect and surveyor in Edinburgh, and his wife Margaret (1789–1867). In 1839/40 he was articled to George Beattie (born 1810) (father of

William Hamilton Beattie William Hamilton Beattie (10 December 1842 – 29 November 1898) was a Scottish architect specialising in hotel design in the late 19th century. He was the eldest son of George Beattie (1810-1872) an architect/builder in Edinburgh and ...

builders and wood merchants at 23 Bread Street. His family was then living at 138 Causewayside. From 1850 he was living at practising from Madeira Cottage at 187 Causewayside, close to his family home. From 1860 onwards he had offices at 6 Hanover Street in Edinburgh's First New Town, moving to 10 Hanover Street around 1870, and is later described as both architect and city assessor (valuing property under the Valuation of Lands Act). He was

Session Clerk A session (from the Latin word ''sessio'', which means "to sit", as in sitting to deliberate or talk about something; sometimes called ''consistory'' or ''church board'') is a body of elected elders governing each local church within presbyteria ...

to the United Presbyterian Church in Newington. He died at 47 Grange Road on 5 October 1889 and is buried nearby in the

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

Works

see *97-103 High Street on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

(1862) incorporating the sculpted head of a boy by John Rhind *Cafe Royal, Edinburgh (1863) *Morningside United Presbyterian Church (1864) *Newington United Presbyterian Church (1864) Grange Road/Causewayside (generally called Salisbury Church) *

Saltcoats Saltcoats ( gd, Baile an t-Salainn) is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages al ...

West UP Church (1866) *West wing, Edinburgh Royal lunatic asylum (1867) *

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. It began ...

UP Church (1869) *Southern Literary Institute (1870) *Tenement in Leith (1873) Great Junction Street? *Enlargement of Hamilton Prison (1876) * Portobello Cemetery and entrance lodge (1876) *

Portobello Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to: Places Brazil * Porto Belo Ireland * Portobello, Dublin * Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks'' New Zealand * Portobello, New Zealand, on Ot ...

Police Station (1877) *Tenement in Portobello (1877) *

Christian Institute (1878) *Tenements, Queen Charlotte Street,

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

(1878) *Windsor Hotel, 100

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 ...

(1878) *Villa, 6 Strathearn Road (1880) extension and alteration *6 to 8 Shandwick Place (1880) *Tenement 147-151 Warrender Park Road (1881) *Tenement Leslie Place/Carlton Street,

Canonmills Canonmills is a district of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It lies to the south east of the Royal Botanic Garden at Inverleith, east of Stockbridge and west of Bellevue, in a low hollow north of Edinburgh's New Town. The area was formerly ...

(1881) *Villa, 5 Chalmers Crescent for Thomas Landale (1884)Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1888 *Villa, 59 Dick Place (1885) *Shop, 130

(1886) *Warrender Baths (1886)

Family

In 1848 he married Margaret Wyllie. Their eldest son Robert (born 1850) was also an architect. He was cousin to the architect

Robert Hamilton Paterson Robert Hamilton Paterson (1843–1911) was a Scottish architect and partner in the architectural practice, Hamilton-Paterson and Rhind. Life Robert Hamilton Paterson was born at 6 Earl Grey Street Edinburgh in 1843, the son of Thomas Paterson, ...

References

1825 births 1889 deaths Architects from Edinburgh Scottish architects {{Scotland-artist-stub