Ian Gordon Lindsay RSA 1906-1966

Ian G. Lindsay was born in Edinburgh in 1906 and was educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied at Cambridge Architectural School, During the Second World War he served with the Royal Engineers, and he was the architect for the Memorial to the 51st Highland Division at St. Valery.

Mr. Lindsay was the senior partner in the firm of Ian G. Lindsay & Partners, Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh. He was an authority on Georgian Architecture and will probably be most remembered for his work on old Scottish buildings, Inveraray Castle, Mertoun, Aldie Castle, Pluscarden Priory, Canongate Church, Inveraray Old Town, Cramond Village, to name only a few; but Iona is his most famous and probably his most important work.

He had a special love for this island, and the monastic buildings and cloister which he attached to Columba's Abbey Church - half restoration and half original design in the absence of evidence - belong there as surely as anything from previous ages. Two post-War Churches at Colinton Mains and Livingston Station, the Chapel at Carberry, and the Power Stations at Kilmelfort and Loch Gair are further examplesof his work.

Ian Lindsay held many public appointments, including membership of the Royal Fine Art Commission of Scotland, the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland, the ancient Monuments Board of Scotland, the Historic Buildings Council of Scotland, and the Council of the National Trust for Scotland. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1947 and a full Member in 1960.

He was the author of many books, including “Georgian Edinburgh", "Old Edinburgh", and "The Cathedrals of Scotland". He also published many booklets on old Churches, particularly those in West Lothian.

In addition to the admiration of his fellow Members for his outstanding professional abilities, he was greatly esteemed not only at home but also abroad, particularly in Australia and throughout Scandinavia, as an authority on traditional Northern European Architecture.

Ian Lindsay's great charm and warm personality made him a very popular Member, and he will be sadly missed by all his many friends in the Academy. He died in hospital on 28th August, 1966, and is survived by his wife and six children.

RSA Obituary, transcribed from the 1966 RSA Annual Report