Alexander Laing (13 June 1752 – 10 September 1823)Alexander Laing at ScottishArchirects.org.uk was a Scottish architect who was mainly involved in house and castle design.
Life He appears to be the son of Thomas Laing (d.1774), a knife- and tool-maker who lived near the Theatre on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.Williamson's Street Directory 1773
Laing trained as a stonemason, and (as was typical in that age) was also styled "architect", and was based in Edinburgh;A Treatise on the Law of Scotland, respecting the Erection, Union, and Disjunction of Parishes; the Manses and Glebes of the Parochial Clergy, and the Patronage of Churches - Sir John Connell (1818) He is first listed in Williamson's Edinburgh Directory of 1774 as a "Mason" living at Theatre Row (on the south side of the Royal Mile near the now Museum of Childhood).Williamson's Street Directory 1774
Laing married three times: first to Charlotte Polson in 1772, then to Margaret Turnbull in 1786, and finally to Beatrix Currie in 1789.
He had a son, Francis (1 May 1773 – 24 November 1861),Francis Laing - University of Glasgow with Charlotte. He also had a daughter, Jane, who married Captain Alexander Robertson in 1808.The Scots Magazine, Volume 71 (Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran; 1809)
In 1795, Laing purchased the James Adam-designed 7 York Place, the manse for the adjacent St George's Chapel in Edinburgh, where he lived until 1818.Edinburgh, 7 York Place - Canmore.org.uk
He left York Place in 1818. He moved to 6 Gayfield Place (a house of his own design) at the top of Leith Walk and was still living there in 1823.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1820
Laing died in Portobello in 1823, aged 71.The Snell Exhibitions: From the University of Glasgow to Balliol College, Oxford - J. MacLehose & Sons (1901)
Known works Laing's works include:Alexander Laing - Scottish Architects
Archers Hall, Edinburgh (1776) High School, Edinburgh (1777) Retreat House, Abbey St Bathans (1778) House for Sir James Hunter Blair, 1st Baronet and his new wife (1781) Wings on Dalmahoy House (1785) Bridge at Dalmahoy (1787) Steeple, Town House, Inverness (1789) Inverness Royal Academy (1790) Dunnikier House (1791) Two villas at Gayfield Square (1791/2) 6 Gayfield Sq and 6 Gayfield PlHES listed buildings in Edinburgh Remodelling of Brechin Castle (1795) Over Rankeillor House, Fife (1795) Remodelling of Darnaway Castle (1796 to 1802) South Queensferry Harbour (1797) House at 8 York Place, Edinburgh (1798) Langton Church, Gavinton (1798) Royal Northern Infirmary, Inverness (1799) Dysart Church (1802) Remodelling of Invermay and estate buildings, Forteviot (1802) Parish Church, Huntly, Aberdeenshire (1804) Peterhead Parish Church (1804) Drumsheugh House, Edinburgh (1808) Extension to Dysart House (1808) Manse at Dunfermline Abbey (1814) Manse at Grange, Banffshire (1814) Manse at Aberdour (1822)
References
External links Alexander Laing - ScottishArchitects.org.uk