Clarke & Bell & R. A. Bryden was a major Scottish architectural firm based in Glasgow, created by William Clarke (1809–1889), George Bell (1814–1887) and Robert Alexander Bryden (1841–1906) around 1875. The practice dissolved in 1902,Clarke & Bell & R. A. Bryden – Dictionary of Scottish Architects but several of their designs are now listed buildings.
Bryden was initially an apprentice with the partnership, and by the mid-1870s he appeared to hold a senior position within the firm. It is not clear if he was a partner at that time. He appears to have run another practice concurrently beside the Clarke & Bell enterprise, for it was based at the same 37 West Nile Street office. This lasted until 1891, when he was again only of Clarke & Bell, this time as a formal partner. Clarke had died two years earlier, and Bell four. Bell's son, George II, was made a partner in 1880 and was in charge of the firm.
Bryden was again running his own practice, behind a glazed door within the Clarke & Bell office, by the time of the partnership's dissolution in 1902. That year, he and his son, Andrew, went into partnership and moved out of the Clarke & Bell office, by which time was at 212 St Vincent Street in Glasgow, and into 147 Bath Street.
List of selected works
St Cuthbert's Church, Dunoon (1874; now demolished) Avondale Parish Church (1875) Western Baths, Glasgow (1876) St John's Church (Dunoon Free Church) (1877) – now Category A listed Dunoon Infants' School (1880) – now Category B listed Seafield House and lodge (1880) – now Category B listed Jubilee Fountain, Jedburgh (1889) Dunoon Burgh Hall (1893) – now Category B listed; additions, alterations, new gallery and decoration (Bryden designed the building in 1874) Dunoon Pier and offices (1896) – rebuilding, in collaboration with Sir William Robertson Copland and C. J. M. Mackintosh Charles Cameron Memorial Fountain, Glasgow (1896) – now Category B listed
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