Robert Reid (8 November 1774 – 20 March 1856) was the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

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

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

from 1827 to 1839. He is responsible for a number of

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

particularly the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

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 ...

, which houses the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

. Stylistically he was heavily influenced by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

, but Reid's style is more austere. The style is now seen as the main character of the northern (less altered)

Edinburgh New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

and without Reid Edinburgh would today be a very different city. From 1802 to 1809 he assisted the much older

William Sibbald William Sibbald (c.1760–1809) was a Scottish architect. He was superintendent of public works in Edinburgh and assisted Robert Reid in setting out and designing the Second New Town. Their joint work is the largest single development i ...

in the design of the Second New Town in Edinburgh, largely being responsible for the facades. Reid also contributed to the layout of

Charlotte Square 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is located at the west end of George Street and was intended ...

in the city following fellow architect

's death, constructing a home for himself there (No. 44) and completing the design for

West Register House West Register House is a building of the National Records of Scotland, located on Charlotte Square in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. The building was constructed between 1811 and 1814 as St George's Church and converted to its current purpo ...

(formerly St George's Church). In 1802 he went on to contribute to the planning of the northern part of Edinburgh's

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and in 1834 further revisited Adam's works in extending

Register House New Register House is one of multiple buildings within the National Records of Scotland estate. It is located near St Andrew Square to the east end of Princes Street in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It also houses the Court of the Lor ...

. He was the last person to hold the title of "

Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland The Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland was responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of royal palaces, castles and other crown property in Scotland. The main buildings were; Holyroodhouse; Edinburgh Castle; Stirling Castle; Li ...

" a title which died with his retiral. He helped to create its replacement, where responsibility fell to a group rather than an individual, the Scottish Office of Works, which was created in 1827. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

, Edinburgh. He has a large but simple monument against the southern wall.

Principal works

*The western (original) sections of the Scottish Law Courts (1804–1812) - eventually completed 1830–1840 following the destruction of the buildings to the east originally resistant to redevelopment in the

Great Edinburgh Fire The Great Fire of Edinburgh was one of the most destructive fires in the history of Edinburgh. It started on Monday, 15 November 1824, and lasted for five days, with two major phases. Sequence of events The fire broke out around 10pm on 15 No ...

of 1824 *The

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

Head Office on the Mound (1802–06) (jointly with Richard Crichton - later altered) * St George's Church,

(1811–14) (later converted to West Register House) *

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 ...

Custom House (1811–12) *

Old Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic p ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

(1803–07) *Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum, Morningside, Edinburgh (1809–10) (demolished) * Salutation Hotel, Perth (circa 1810) * HM Prison Perth (1810–12) *The library and picture gallery in

Paxton House, Berwickshire Paxton House is a historic house at Paxton, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, a few miles south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, overlooking the River Tweed. It is a country house built for Patrick Home of Billie in an unsuccessful attempt to wo ...

(1812–13) *

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

Gaol,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Ireland (1824–30) * Wick Town Hall (1825) *Repair and restoration of

Arbroath Abbey Arbroath Abbey, in the Scottish town of Arbroath, was founded in 1178 by King William the Lion for a group of Tironensian Benedictine monks from Kelso Abbey. It was consecrated in 1197 with a dedication to the deceased Saint Thomas Becket, who ...

(1835)

Edinburgh streets designed by Reid

*33-46

(1807–15) *Abercromby Place *Cumberland Street *Dublin Street *Dundas Street *Dundonald Street *Drummond Place *Fettes Row *Gloucester Place *Great King Street *Heriot Row *India Street *Mansfield Place *Nelson Street *Northumberland Street *Royal Crescent *Scotland Street File:Parliament House, Edinburgh.JPG, The Robert Reid designed facade of the Law Courts in Edinburgh's Parliament Square File:Signet Library ceiling.JPG, Ceiling of the Signet Library, Edinburgh File:Rose Terrace.jpg, The Old Academy, Perth File:Grave of Robert Reid, Dean Cemetery Edinburgh.JPG, Reid's grave in Edinburgh's Dean Cemetery

References

Incomplete list of works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Robert 1774 births Scottish architects 1856 deaths Scottish surveyors 19th-century Scottish people Burials at the Dean Cemetery