Robert Reid Raeburn (4 August 1819 – 7 February 1888) was a Scottish architect in the mid-19th century operating primarily in and around

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Life

He was born on 4 August 1819 the son of James Raeburn (1787-1851), architect and principal clerk to the Scottish Office of Works, and Mary Ann Petrie. He was named after his father’s employer, Robert Reid. In early life the family moved to a fine newly built townhouse at 7 North East Circus Place, ironically designed by rival architect

William Henry Playfair William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...

. He was apprenticed from 1835 until 1841 to Thomas Brown, architect for the Prison Board of Scotland. He worked here until the death of his father at which point he took his father’s role. In 1837 he unsuccessfully submitted an entry for the monument to

John Knox John Knox ( – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lot ...

at the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian era, Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of St. Mungo's Cathedral, Glasgow, Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have ...

and in 1838 an equally unsuccessful bid to design the

Scott Monument The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the second-largest monument to a writer in the world after the José Martí monument in Havana. It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, opp ...

. From 1841 Robert took over the work from his father, who had then retired, as Clerk of Works for government schemes. During this time he operated initially from his father’s house a 3 Warriston Place then moved to 4 Warriston Crescent. During this period he contributed greatly to civic improvements in the city, overseeing the redesign of North Bridge, and remodelling of Parliament Square. In 1865 he moved to new offices in Pitt Street (now renamed Dublin Street). In 1843 he, and his family, left the established

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

and joined the Free Church of Scotland. This led to his involvement in the new headquarters for the Free Church Offices on the Mound. In 1858 he was commissioned to lay out the Grange area for villa development on the south side of

, revising a previous plan created by

David Cousin David Cousin (19 May 1809 – 14 August 1878) was a Scottish architect, landscape architect and Urban planning, planner, closely associated with early cemetery design and many prominent buildings in Edinburgh, Scotland, Edinburgh. From 1841 to ...

. He then began to receive commissions for individual houses within this area. In 1864 he received a further commission to extend the Grange following its quick success, and in 1877 this was extended to what is now Grange Loan. Reid never married. In his final years he lived and worked at 44

Charlotte Square file:Charlotte Square - geograph.org.uk - 105918.jpg, 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

. He died on 7 February 1888 and was buried with his parents in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard at the west end of

Princes Street Princes Street () is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quar ...

. The grave lies in the south-west section around 10 metres from the main west approach path.

Works

*Feuing of the

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

for villa development in Edinburgh (1858) *35 Lauder Road,

Grange, Edinburgh The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

(1860) *Dunard, 123 Grange Loan (1865) *Roseburn Free Church,

West Coates West Coates or Wester Coates is a residential district of central Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is on the A8, in proximity to Haymarket railway station and Roseburn, west of the city centre, bounded by the Water of Leith on its no ...

(1867) (now the National Bible Society of Scotland) *United Presbyterian Church,

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

(now the Abbey Church of Scotland) (1868)Buildings of Scotland: Lothian, by Colin McWilliam *Idvies House, Angus (1868) *Ashbrook, 492 Ferry Road, Edinburgh (1869) *Remodelling of 61/62

to create Romanes & Paterson (1870) *Tornaveen, 1 Gillsland Road, Edinburgh (1875) *11 Ettrick Road, Edinburgh (1875) *Four terraces in the western Grange: 1-12 Greenhill Terrace; 1-20 Greenhill Place; 1-11 Strathearn Place; and 12-17 Strathearn Place (1877) *Tenements with ground floor shops, 1-7 Grange Road/128-138 Causewayside (1877) *York Buildings (opposite the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

) (1878) *Terraced houses, 1-18 Grange Terrace (1879) *9-11 Eyre Place (1880) *Rosetta, 45 Inverleith Gardens (1880-2) *Dalry Free Church (1881) demolished * Ranfurly Hotel. Renfrewshire (1882) *Gallatown Free Church,

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

(1883) *Fountainbridge Free Church (1887) demolished *Curved corner infill block, 4-7 Canon Street (1887) wrongly attributed as Georgian in many sources *Eyre Crescent (1887)

References

*Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Raeburn *Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, by Gifford McWilliam and Walker {{DEFAULTSORT:Raeburn, Robert Reid 1819 births 1888 deaths Architects from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish architects