Blackwell - The Arts and Crafts House - geograph

Blackwell - White Room Fireplace - geograph

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945) was a British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

. Through his long career, he designed in a variety of styles, including a style derived from the Tudor, an Arts and Crafts style reminiscent of Voysey and later the Neo-Georgian.

Early life

The son of a wealthy Scottish landowner, Scott was born at Beards Hill, St Peter's near Broadstairs,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, the second of ten children. He originally studied at the Royal Agricultural College in

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

, but, having qualified in 1885, he decided to study architecture instead. He studied briefly in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, but his architectural development was especially marked by the 12 years he spent living in the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. The first four years of this time he lived at Alexander Terrace, Douglas. In 1893, he and his family moved to Red House, Victoria Road, Douglas, which he had designed.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Scott worked with Fred Saunders, with whom he had studied at the Isle of Man School of Art, which is also in Douglas. In May 1891, he was an art teacher. It was at the school of art that Scott and Archibald Knox became friends. He then left Saunders and set up his own business in 23 Athol Street, Douglas. In 1894, in an article in '' The Studio'', he proposed a design having a high central hall with a galleried inglenook between the drawing and dining rooms and separated from them by

folding screen A folding screen, also known as pingfeng (), is a type of free-standing furniture consisting of several frames or panels, which are often connected by hinges or by other means. They have practical and decorative uses, and can be made in a variet ...

s. This hypothetical 'ideal house' brought in many commissions. Scott developed his own

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

style however, which progressed towards a simple form of architecture, relying on truth to material and function, and on precise craftsmanship. Scott was known for the work he put into both the exterior and the interior, and its decoration. He produced nearly 300 buildings over the course of his career.

Notable buildings

* Bexton Croft,

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...

, Cheshire, 1896, Grade II* listed * Blackwell, Bowness, Cumbria, 1898–1900, Grade I listed * The White House, Helensburgh, Scotland, 1899, Category A * Home Close, Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshire, 1911 * Snowshill Manor gardens, 1920–23 * Church Rate Corner (private house),

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, 1924, Grade II listed * Oakhams, 1942 (additions; his home) * Red House, Isle of Man * Woodbury Hollow,

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

, Essex * Winscombe House, Crowborough, Sussex * Sandford House, Kilmany, Fife, Scotland, Category B * Majestic Hotel,

Onchan Onchan (; ) is a large village in the parish of Onchan (parish), Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, Isl ...

, Isle of Man (demolished) * White Lodge, Wantage, Oxfordshire *Chludzinski's Mansion, Lieskavičy, Šumilina district,

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

region,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

(derelicted)

Family & Later life

He married Florence Kate Nash, a descendant of

Beau Nash Richard "Beau" Nash (18 October 1674 – 3 February 1762) was a Welsh lawyer who as a dandy, played a leading role in 18th-century British fashion. He is best remembered as the master of ceremonies at the spa town of Bath, Somerset. Biograph ...

, on 1 February 1899 in Batheaston Parish Church, Somerset. They had two children: * Daughter, Enid Maud Mackay Baillie-Scott, born 26 November 1889 d. 1968 * Son, Mackay Hugh Baillie-Scott, born 13 May 1891 d. 1943 He died at the Elm Grove Hospital (now Brighton General Hospital) in the Elm Grove area of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. His gravestone in Edenbridge, Kent reads: "Nature he loved and next to nature art".

References

External links