William Young, c.1890 William Young (baptized 25 March 1843 – 1 November 1900) was a Scottish architect, the designer of

Glasgow City Chambers The City Chambers or Municipal Buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, has functioned as the headquarters of Glasgow City Council since 1996, and of preceding forms of municipal government in the city since 1889. It is located on the eastern side of the ...

Biography

Early life

Young was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1843, the son of James Young, a bootmaker and spirit dealer. He was baptized on 25 March that year.

Career

During the late 1850s he was articled to James Jamieson Lamb of Paisley, but moved in 1859 to the Glasgow office of William Nairne Tait. He then spent time in Manchester before settling in London in 1865 as an assistant in the office of Charles Henry Howell, the Surrey

county surveyor A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with c ...

. This move gave him the chance to study at the South Kensington School in preparation for starting up in independent practice in 1869. In 1870 he was commissioned by Lord Elcho to erect a 50,000 square feet timber marquee at Wimbledon Common for the National Rifle Brigade. This was followed by a commission in 1873 from Lord Elcho's brother-in-law, William Wells, MP, to build him a large Tudor Gothic style country house, Holmewood Hall, near Peterborough. Glasgow City Chambers - geograph

He set up in premises in the Strand and received a steady stream of commissions, including Haseley Manor, Warwick (1875), Peebles Parish Church (1885-7) and new wings for

Gosford House Gosford House is a neoclassical country house around northeast of Longniddry in East Lothian, Scotland, on the A198 Aberlady Road, in of parkland and coast. It is the family seat of the Charteris family, the Earls of Wemyss and March. It was ...

, Lothian (1891). In London he designed Chelsea House, Cadogan Place (1874) for Earl Cadogan and competed unsuccessfully in the South Kensington Museum Competition of 1891. With the help of Lord Elcho, however, he was given the commission for the new War Office in Whitehall (later completed by his son, Clyde Francis Young). In addition to his design work he wrote a number of publications to advertise his work, such as "Town and Country Mansions and Suburban Houses" in 1873 and "Town and Country Mansions with Notes on the Sanitary and Artistic Construction of Houses" in 1878. In 1881 he won the competition for

in George Square, Glasgow. This building, built between 1881 and 1890, features the largest set of sculptures in the city, symbolizing aspects of the city's industrial, commercial and cultural achievement. He was admitted FRIBA in 1891.

Death

He died in 1900 at 23 Oakhill Road, his home in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, London (which he designed himself in 1879), and was buried at

Putney Vale Cemetery Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938 ...

. His practice was continued after his death by his son Clyde, who completed the work in progress of his father, including the extensive alterations to Elveden Hall, Suffolk.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, William 1843 births 1900 deaths People from Paisley, Renfrewshire Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery 19th-century Scottish architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects