John Douglas (architect) - Practice and Personality

Practice and Personality

Douglas practised on his own until 1884, when his son, Colin, became ill. He then took Daniel Porter Fordham into partnership and practised as Douglas & Fordham. Fordham was born around 1846 and had been an assistant in Douglas's office since at least 1872. In 1898, having developed consumption, Fordham retired from the practice and went to live in Bournemouth where he died the following year. He was replaced as partner by Charles Howard Minshull, who had been born in Chester in 1858 and who became articled to Douglas in 1874; the practice became Douglas & Minshull. During the first decade of the 20th century, Douglas became less active but, for reasons which are unknown, the partnership was dissolved in 1909. The practice returned to the title of John Douglas, Architect. Minshull went into partnership with E. J. Muspratt in Foregate Street, Chester. When Douglas died, this partnership worked from the Abbey Square address as Douglas, Minshull & Muspratt.

Little is known about Douglas's private life and personality. Only two images of him are known to survive. One is a photograph taken in later middle age. The other is a caricature sketch made by an assistant in his office. This shows him in old age, bowed, bent and bespectacled, carrying a portfolio and an ear trumpet. According to architectural historian Edward Hubbard, Douglas's life "seems to have been one of thorough devotion to architecture ... which may well have been intensified by the death of his wife and other domestic worries". His obituary in the Chester Chronicle stated that he "lived heart and soul in his profession".

Douglas was a dedicated Christian who regularly attended his local church, St Paul's Church, Boughton, a church he rebuilt. His house, Walmoor Hill, included an oratory. He also had a "strong sense of national loyalty", incorporating statues of Queen Victoria in niches at Walmoor Hill and in his buildings in St Werburgh Street, Chester. Douglas was not good at handling the financial matters of his practice. The Duke of Westminster's secretary wrote of him in 1884, "A good architect but a poor hand at accounts!". Delay in presenting his accounts often led to difficulties and confusion; such delay sometimes amounted to as much as ten years. Otherwise very little is known about his personal life. No family papers have survived and none of the documents from the office at 6 Abbey Square has been found.