Alexander 'Greek' Thomson

Gavin Stamp

Editions

Review

Gavin Stamp posits that Alexander Thomson was an architectural genius as great as Glasgow's favourite son, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Certainly, for this Cinderella of Neo-classicism, it is time for the reassessment of a highly individual career.  His greatest extant masterpiece, Saint Vincent Street Church, is currently high on the World Monuments Fund's endangered list, and Holmwood House has recently been restored with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and can be seen in its pristine splendour.

Stamp surveys the achievements of this visionary artist who at the height of his productivity from 1850-1875 spurned the contemporary vogue for the Gothic style and strove to resuscitate the principles of Greek architecture, albeit in a more sturdy manner, appropriate to his native city. - review by Stewart Grimshaw