Brydon, John McKean

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Brydon, John McKean (1840–1901). Dunfermline-born Scots architect, a pupil of David Bryce. He joined J. J. Stevenson and Campbell Douglas (1828–1910) in Glasgow (c.1863–6) before settling in London where he worked with Eden Nesfield and Norman Shaw for three years. In 1880 he set up in practice with William Wallace (fl. 1871–1907). He won the 1898 competition to design the new Government Offices at the corner of Parliament Street and Parliament Square, Westminster (1898–1912), a fine ensemble in which Chambers, Wren, and Webb influences can be detected. His more modest Chelsea Town Hall (1885–7) is in a ‘Free-Classic’ style influenced by the work of Wren. In a series of lectures and articles, Brydon called for the revival of Classical discipline in architecture as an antidote to the free-for-all of late-Victorian times, and promoted a revival of Palladianism and elements from English Baroque, as in his Bath Guildhall (1890s).

Bibliography

A. S. Gray (1985);
Placzek & and Darby (1973);
Stamp & and Amery (1980);
Jane Turner (1996)

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Brydon, John McKean

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