An examination of the work of Sir Robert Lorimer
Abstract
This thesis provides a chronological account of
Lorimer's career and his work in eight chapters. The aim
is to show how his work developed during his lifetime. The
opportunities he was able to grasp, and his achievements
in building design and landscaping are discussed.
The second, allied, aim of this thesis is to show how
Lorimer's abilities developed within the three different
roles which he assumed at the professional level. The
first two chapters discuss his development in early years;
chapters 3, 4 and 5 discuss his middle years as a private
architect, mainly for domestic buildings; chapter 6
discusses his role as a principal architect for the Imperial
War Graves Commission, for which he acted in a public role;
chapter 7 discusses the Scottish National War Memorial,
for which he acted as National Architect.
Lorimer's work is appraised at each stage in his
career, and the fact that he enjoyed several different
reputations in his own lifetime is discussed. Whereas he
was seen as a pioneer at the end of the last century, by
the end of the first decade of this century he was widely
known as a Gothicist. His country houses then gained him
the reputation of being the Scottish Lutyens, and finally
in the thirties, the Scottish National War Memorial evoked
a national pride so intense that it confirmed Lorimer more
as a patriot than as any particular caste of architect.