Alexander Laing (architect)

Alexander Laing
Born13 June 1752
Died10 September 1823 (aged 71)
Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Known forDesigning Scottish houses and castles

Alexander Laing (13 June 1752 – 10 September 1823) was a Scottish architect who was mainly involved in house and castle design.

Peterhead's Old Parish Church, one of Laing's designs

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.

Laing trained as a stonemason, and (as was typical in that age) was also styled "architect", and was based in Edinburgh; 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).

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), with Charlotte. He also had a daughter, Jane, who married Captain Alexander Robertson in 1808.

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.

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.

Laing died in Portobello in 1823, aged 71.

Known works

Laing's works include:

Langton Parish Church in Gavinton
Brechin Castle
Darnaway Castle