Sir Frank Charles Mears LLD (11 July 1880 – 25 January 1953) was an architect and Scotland's leading planning consultant from the 1930s to the early 1950s.

Life and work

Memorial tablet to Frank Mears, Warriston Crematorium

Born in

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne ...

he moved to Edinburgh in 1897 when his father, Dr William Pope Mears (1855-1901), was appointed to a lecturing post in the Anatomy Department of Edinburgh University. His mother, Isabella Bartholomew LDCPE (1853-1936), was one of the first licensed physicians in Scotland and an early Taoist author. The family lived at Woodburn House on Canaan Lane in the Morningside district of Edinburgh. He trained as an architect, initially under Hippolyte Blanc (1896-1901), and then, in 1903, under

Robert Weir Schultz Robert Weir Schultz (26 July 1860 – 29 April 1951), later Robert Weir Schultz Weir and known as R. W. S. Weir, was a Scottish Arts and Crafts architect, artist, landscape designer and furniture designer. He did much work on the Isle of Bute ...

(1860-1951). In 1906, after tours of England and the Continent, he returned to Scotland and worked under Ramsay Traquair (1874-1952). In 1908 he became an assistant to the pioneer planner Patrick Geddes (1854-1932), working on the Civic Survey of Edinburgh for the first ever Town Planning Exhibition (1910). He worked with Geddes and his daughter Norah on the creation of a Scottish National Zoological Garden 1913-14 which became Edinburgh Zoo. In 1915 he married Norah Geddes, making Patrick Geddes his father-in-law.(Sir) Frank Charles Mears

Dictionary of Scottish Architects The Dictionary of Scottish Architects is a publicly available online database that provides biographical information about all architects known to have worked in Scotland between 1660 and 1980, and lists their works. Launched in 2006, it was comp ...

In World War I he served with Geddes' son Alasdair in the Kite Balloon section of the Royal Flying Corps and, importantly, invented the modern parachute (and quick release buckle) whilst serving as a Major in this role. Mears was elected an Associate of the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

in 1936, became full academician in 1943 and served as its President 1944–50. The University of Edinburgh conferred an honorary doctorate ( LLD) on him in 1945, and he was made a Knight Bachelor in the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginnin ...

. He also advised the Department of Health on Housing in Scotland. Frank Mears died in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River ...

, New Zealand whilst visiting his son, Kenneth Patrick Geddes Mears (1916-2001). His body was returned to Edinburgh for cremation. A memorial plaque is placed to his memory on the south side of Warriston Crematorium above a plaque to his other two sons both of whom died young: Alastair Mears (1918-1939) and John M. Mears (1921-1949).

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In 1919, Patrick Geddes was engaged by the World Zionist Organization to prepare a scheme for the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...

. Frank Mears worked as his assistant, translating his ideas into plans and architectural drawings. Between 1925 and 1929, Mears worked with the Jerusalem-based architect, Benjamin Chaikin, on designs for specific university buildings, including the Einstein Institute of Mathematics and the David Wolffsohn Library.

Greater Dublin Reconstruction

Before the war, Mears had assisted Geddes with the mounting of the Cities and Town Planning Exhibition in Dublin and he subsequently worked with Dublin Corporation and the Irish Local Government Board on a number of schemes for garden villages in various parts of the city. Between 1922 and 1924, in the aftermath of the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

, he prepared plans for civic renewal and the accommodation of new national institutions on behalf of the Greater Dublin Reconstruction Movement.

Monuments and Memorials

In the course of his career, Mears prepared a number of schemes for monuments and memorials. With Ramsay Traquair he prepared schemes for a memorial to

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

& I at the foot of the Canongate (1911) and the completion of the National Monument on Calton Hill (1912). In 1919 he submitted a proposal for a Scottish National War Memorial as Via Sacra following the line of Johnston Terrace on the southern slope of the Edinburgh Castle Rock. In 1926, Mears was engaged to prepare a scheme for a National Memorial to David Livingstone at Livingstone's birthplace in Blantyre. A series of relief tableaux and a World Fountain were devised in collaboration with the sculptor, Charles d'Orville Pilkington Jackson. In 1950, Mears worked with his partners, H.A. Rendel Govan and Robert J. Naismith, and Pilkington Jackson on the design for the monument to his old regiment, the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regimen ...

, in

Princes Street Gardens Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, ...

, Edinburgh.

Rural Development

Mears was keenly interested in rural issues and in 1926 he played a key role in the establishment of the Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland (APRS). He was critical of the insensitivity of the Ministry of Transport's proposal to drive a modern trunk road through Glencoe and, in response to representations by the APRS, the Ministry agreed to face its engineering works in Glencoe in local stone and to respect the local land form in its designs for road improvements throughout the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia * So ...

. In 1930, Mears and Charles Denny Carus-Wilson were appointed consultant architects for five new road bridges on the A82: over the River Kiachnish (1932) between

North Ballachulish The village of Ballachulish ( or , from Scottish Gaelic ) in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, is centred on former slate quarries. The name Ballachulish (Ballecheles, 1522 – Straits town) was more correctly applied to the area now called No ...

and Fort William; and over the

River Oich The River Oich is a short river that flows through the Great Glen in Scotland. It carries water from Loch Oich (to the SW) to Loch Ness (to the NE) and runs in parallel to a section of the Caledonian Canal for the whole of its length. The Great G ...

and at Invergarry (1932), at

Invermoriston Invermoriston (''Inbhir Mhoireastain'' in Gaelic) () is a small village north of Fort Augustus, Highland, Scotland. The village is on the A82 road, at a junction with the A887. The village's most visited attraction is the Thomas Telford bri ...

(1933) and at Fort Augustus (1935) in the Great Glen. In 1935, Mears was appointed consultant architect for a new crossing of the River Dee at Allenvale in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, to relieve congestion on the historic Brig o Dee upstream. Work began on his design for a three-span reinforced concrete bridge faced in Kemnay granite in 1938 and the new crossing was opened as the George VI Bridge in 1941. In 1932, Mears and Leslie Grahame-Thomson prepared model designs for rural houses on behalf of the APRS. 71 cottages to their design were built in

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

. Mears also prepared plans and designs for a number of housing schemes in Peebles, including developments at Neidpath Road (1935) and Connor Street (1936). In 1933, Mears and Carus-Wilson were engaged to design the Lucy Sanderson Cottage Homes, an early sheltered housing development in Galashiels. Towards the end of his career, Mears addressed the problem of rural depopulation in its most acute form in a strategy for the planning and redevelopment of the County of Sutherland. In a plan strongly influenced by

Frank Fraser Darling Sir Frank Fraser Darling FRSE (23 June 1903 – 22 October 1979) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland. He gives his name to the Fraser ...

's Preliminary Report on the ''West Highland Survey'' (1948), he advocated a strategy based on the regeneration of the

crofting Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th century townships, individual crofts were established on the bette ...

economy through measures such as land rehabilitation, tenure reform, investment in agriculture, forestry and fishing, and the encouragement of small rural industries based on indigenous resources.

The Development of Edinburgh

In 1931 he prepared a "Plan for Edinburgh" and in 1935 founded the first Town Planning course at the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histo ...

whilst Head of the School. Drawing on the work he had undertaken for the Civic Survey of Edinburgh, he wrote a number of articles on the planning of medieval settlements and the development of Edinburgh from Roman times.

Central and South-East Scotland

In 1943, Mears was asked to prepare a regional plan for catchments of the Rivers Forth and Tweed. His ''Interim Report on Population Trends'' in March 1945 identified sharply contrasting challenges in the two catchments. Future developments indicated in the Report of the Scottish Coalfields Committee at the end of 1944 suggested that, in anticipation of a large increase in population, the problem in the Forth Basin would be to find sites for a number of large new communities without overwhelming existing towns, while avoiding as far as possible good agricultural land and areas liable to subsidence. In the Tweed Valley the problem was not so much one of "town" planning as of discovering ways of arresting the decline in population by the provision of improved housing and social facilities where these were lacking, and by the introduction of balancing industries to supplement those of agriculture and weaving. The ''Regional Plan for Central and South-East Scotland'', one of three major regional plans for Scotland's post-war reconstruction, was published in 1948.

Greenock Plans Ahead

In 1940, Mears was appointed planning consultant to the Corporation of Greenock. In a plan entitled ''Greenock: Portal of the Clyde'' (1947) he argued that the scale and character of future housing development, social facilities and services should reflect the industrial potential offered by the town's strategic location on the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

. Patrick Abercrombie's Clyde Valley planning team had identified a serious deficiency of open spaces in the lower part of the town. Mears proposed redevelopment at lower densities, the creation of new industrial areas and the accommodation of the displaced population in a constellation of new neighbourhoods laid out in the Kip Valley on American Parkway lines to create a "federal Garden City". He also prepared layouts and designs for council housing in Greenock and a scheme for the redevelopment of part of the town centre which had been badly damaged by wartime bombing. His work in the burgh was the subject of a documentary film entitled ''Greenock Plans Ahead'' (1948), directed by the photographer Hamilton Tait and narrated by Frank Phillips.

University of Glasgow

In 1951, Mears submitted proposals for the expansion and redevelopment of the University of Glasgow. His scheme involved a major expansion to the north of University Avenue into Hillhead, with new buildings arranged around a system of courts and quadrangles and linked by tree-lined footpaths.

Projects

Mears was employed across Scotland and was also involved in significant projects in Ireland and Palestine: * Master plan and designs for new buildings for the

(1919-1929) ** The David Wolffsohn University and National Library, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Design by Patrick Geddes, Frank Mears and Benjamin Chaikin, inaugurated on 15 April 1930. ** The Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Wattenberg Hall, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Design by Frank Mears and Benjamin Chaikin, inaugurated on 31 October 1928. * Greater Dublin Reconstruction (1922-1924) * The Scottish National Memorial to David Livingstone (1926-1935) * New road bridges on the A82 (1930-1935) * Proposals for Central Edinburgh (1931) * Rural house designs for the APRS (1932) * Housing schemes in Peebles (1932-1935) * The Lucy Sanderson Cottage Homes in Galashiels (1933) * County Planning in East Lothian (1933-1950) * George VI Bridge,

(1935-1941) * Renewal of

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, ...

's Old Town (1936-1953)Mears, F.C. (1938), ''The Re-Construction of Central Stirling'', Journal of the Town Planning Institute, May 1938, pp. 226 - 229 * County Planning in Midlothian (1937-1941) * Planning proposals for Elgin (1938-1944) * Plan for the Redevelopment of Greenock (1940-1947) * Central and South-East Scotland Plan (1943-1948) * Monument to the Royal Scots Regiment (1950-1952) * Proposals for the University of Glasgow (1951) * Planning and Redevelopment in Sutherland (1951)

References

Online references

Frank Mears pages
on the website of Graeme Purves *http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C2987551