Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer RSA 1864-1929

Robert Stodart Lorimer, son of James Lorimer, LL.D., Professor of Public Law in the University of Edinburgh, was born on 4th November 1864, being the younger brother of the distinguished painter John H. Lorimer, A.R.W.S. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the University, thereafter becoming architectural pupil of Sir R. Rowand Anderson, H.R.S.A., for four and a half years, working later in theoffice of G. F. Bodley, R.A., in London.

Returning to Edinburgh in 1893, Lorimer started practice and speedily achieved a high position in his profession, finding inspiration in Scottish Domestic Architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries. Several houses of that period he restored or rebuilt, besides designing and erecting others, such as Ardkinglass and Rowallan, with adaptations to modern needs.

Though his ability was recognised by  fellow-artists almost from the beginning of his career, it was the Thistle Chapel, an addition to St. Giles Cathedral, which revealed to the general public the presence of a man of genius, who had enlisted the services and cordial co-operation of a body of craftsmen equal in skill to any in the history of the country. 

Their support he was ever ready to acknowledge, and in his crowning work, the Scottish National War Memorial on the Castle Rock, this co-operation was consummated. The general verdict of his compatriots and the multitude of visitors from all over the world has been that here Scotland’s memorable contribution to the sacrifices of the Great War is enshrined with supreme dignity and beauty.

 Sir Robert was entrusted by the Imperial War Graves Commission with the work connected with Cemeteries in Italy, Egypt, and Macedonia, as well as in Great Britain. The restoration of the Church of St. John at Perth, and the completion of the reconstruction at Paisley Abbey, besides new buildings for the

University of Edinburgh, were among his latest undertakings, while the severely simple and dignified Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter, Falcon Avenue, which he had designed, was only recently completed. The Memorial Chapel at Stowe School was his last achievement.

Sir Robert was elected Associate of the Roya] Scottish Academy in 1903, Academician in 1921, Associate of the Royal Academy in 1920; he received the honour of knighthood in 1911, and in 1927 that of K.B.E. The  University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1928; he was President of the Royal Scottish Incorporation of Architects, and had long been Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 

In the education of students of the Arts and Crafts, and of Architecture, as the mother of them all, Lorimer took the greatest interest, and from the beginning represented the Academy on the Board of Management

of the Edinburgh College of Art with unflagging keenness and understanding. Such a record of work accomplished would seem to leave no space for recreation.

Music, however, he loved, and in collecting furniture, embroideries, tapestries, glass, jade, and other beautiful things he found respite and refreshment. Courteous in his bearing, and affectionate with his friends, Lorimer possessed much tenacity of purpose, and a certain hardness, which kept

him aloof from many of his contemporaries.

Tributes to Sir Robert’s memory following his sudden death in Edinburgh on 13th September 1929 showed the depth of admiration he had inspired among those qualified to judge his attainments and character. The Academy mourns the loss of one of the outstanding architects of his generation.

RSA Obituary, transcribed from 1929 RSA Annual Report