ALEXANDER THOMSON

Copyright © 1999 by David H. Fox.  All Rights Reserved

While the Audsleys favored the Gothic Revival style for churches and dwellings, they utilized a Neo-classical style developed by Alexander Thomson for all of their known secular structures.

Thomson was born on 9 April 1817 in Balfron Scotland, a place about fifteen miles north of Glasgow.  In 1834, he began an apprenticeship with Robert Foote, which was cut short in 1836 when his mentor retired because of ill-health.  Thomson thereupon was employed in the office of John Baird, perhaps the most prominent Glasgow architect of the time.  A partnership was formed in 1849 with another person named John Baird, during which time Gothic Revival and Italianate villas were designed.  In 1856, Alexander and brother George Thomson formed the firm of A. & G. Thomson, which would remain active until 1871.  Alexander Thomson died on 22 March 1875. .        Ronald McFadzean, The Life and Work of Alexander Thomson (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979).

There is a possibility that Thomson might have met G. A. Audsley as both were active in professional associations.  Thomson served as delegate to a London conference of the Royal Institute of British Architects on 22 to 25 May 1871.  However, the Audsleys were not elected fellows of this organization until the year following Thomson's death.  Whether Thomson and the Audsley shared memberships elsewhere is not known.

The Audsley adoption of Thomson's style appears to have taken place in the late 1870's following Thomson's death.  So similar are the ornamental conventions that one is inclined to suppose that the Audsleys either acquired several of Thomson's architectural drawings or made measured renderings of his work.  

Of the various Thomson works, the Audsleys were apparently most influenced by the Queen's Park United Presbyterian Church (1867-1942), Glasgow, Scotland.  Unlike the typical Neo-classical revival buildings of the period, no attempt was made here to exactly imitate ancient classical structures, but rather to use design elements from various sources in new ways.  Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Thomson's work was the incorporation of forms derived from the architecture of India.  The British naturally had some curiosity about their colony, and a relative of Thomson is known to have resided there.  Several nineteenth century publications concerning Indian temples provoked much interest.

The main entrance of the church consisted of a form derived from the pylons of Egyptian temples.  Originally, pylons were completely solid structures, but here, Thomson has made them hollow so as to receive two columns in an arrangement known to the Romans as in antis.  The visual mass of the pylon was further reduced by having the colonnade-like first story pass laterally through it.

Though covered with Greek ornament, the form of the entrance columns is Indian.  Another combination of Greek and Indian styles is found in the upper facade.  Here, one finds a typical Greek pediment that is supported by squat columns apparently copied from the cave temples of Elephanta.  The most striking feature of the church was the slotted cast iron bell tower whose profile is taken from the elongated domes of southern Indian temples.

One might ponder exactly why the Audsleys were attracted to this Grecian-Egyptian-Indian conglomeration.  It would appear that the love of historical ornament was the lure.  As early as 1860, G. A. Audsley spoke against rote copyism ("art slavery") and urged the adaptation of historic forms to modern use.  Secular buildings provided the greatest freedom in this regard.