Baillie Scott

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945), son of a wealthy Scottish landowner, was a British architect and artist. Through his long career he designed in a variety of styles, including a style derived from the Tudor, an Arts & Crafts style reminiscent of Voysey and later the Neo-Georgian.

Baillie Scott was born at Beards Hill, St Peters near Ramsgate, Kent, the second of ten children. He originally studied at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, but, having qualified in 1885, he decided to study architecture instead. He studied briefly in Bath, but his architectural development was especially marked by the 12 years he spent living in the Isle of Man. 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.

At the beginning of his career, Baillie 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 Baillie Scott and Archibald Knox became friends. He then left Saunders and set up his own business in 23 Athol Street, Douglas. In 1894 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 screens. This hypothetical 'ideal house' brought in many commissions.

Baillie Scott developed his own unique Arts and Crafts style however, which progressed towards a simple form of architecture, relying on truth to material and function, and on precise craftsmanship.

Baillie 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, including Red House, Isle of Man; Majestic Hotel, Onchan, Isle of Man; Blackwell, Bowness, Cumbria; Woodbury Hollow, Loughton, Essex; Winscombe House, Crowborough, Sussex; and Oakhams in 1942.

Baillie Scott died at the Elm Grove Hospital in Brighton. His gravestone in Edenbridge, Kent reads: "Nature he loved and next to nature art".