Hippolyte Jean Blanc was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

. Best known for his church buildings in the Gothic revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style, Blanc was also a keen antiquarian

Antiquarian

An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

 who oversaw meticulously researched restoration projects.

Early life

Hippolyte Blanc was born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 to French parents, who ran a business on George Street

George Street, Edinburgh

Situated to the north of Princes Street, George Street is a major street in the centre of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Laid out from 1767 as part of James Craig's plan for the New Town, George Street was named in honour of King George III.-Geography:...

 importing and manufacturing ladies shoes. Blanc attended George Heriot's School

George Heriot's School

George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...

, and was articled to the architect David Rhind

David Rhind

David Rhind was a Scottish architect, born in Edinburgh in 1808 to parents John Rhind and his wife Marion Anderson. David Rhind was married twice, to Emily Shoubridge in 1840, then Mary Jane Sackville-Pearson in 1845...

 when he left in 1859. While working for Rhind, he attended classes at the School of Art and Design

Edinburgh College of Art

Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....

, where he met Thomas Ross

MacGibbon and Ross

David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross were Scottish architects. Their practice, MacGibbon and Ross was established in 1872 and continued until 1914...

, and became interested in medieval architecture. In 1864, after completing his articles, he joined the Government Office of Works

Office of Works

The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...

, where he became a senior draughtsman in 1869. He married Elizabeth Shield on 21 August 1873.

Architectural career

From the early 1870s, Blanc began to undertake private commissions. In 1875 he won his first architectural competition, for Christ Church, Morningside

Morningside, Edinburgh

Morningside is a district in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is south of the areas of Bruntsfield, Burghmuirhead ; south-west of Marchmont, and south-east of Merchiston...

, and the following year won a second, for Mayfield Free Church

Mayfield Salisbury Church

Mayfield Salisbury Church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, located in Edinburgh, Scotland, approximately 2 miles south of the city centre...

. He left the Office of Works in 1878 to concentrate on his increasing workload, and by 1887 he had taken on a partner, James Gordon.

Blanc executed numerous church buildings, including Kirkliston

Kirkliston

Kirkliston is a village and civil parish within the City of Edinburgh in Scotland. It sits on the historic route between Edinburgh and Queensferry, the gateway to Fife and the north. Today, it is bypassed by the A90...

 Free Church (1880), St Luke's, Broughty Ferry

St Luke's, Broughty Ferry

St Luke's & Queen Street Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland in Broughty Ferry, on the edge of Dundee, Scotland. The church building was completed in 1884 to designs by Edinburgh architect Hippolyte Blanc, and is now protected as a category A listed building.-History:St Luke's was...

 (1884), Coats Memorial Baptist Church, Paisley

Paisley

Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...

 (1885), and Morningside Free Church, Edinburgh (1892), now the Church Hill Theatre. He carried out restoration work to Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

 (1886), John Knox House

John Knox House

The John Knox House is an historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland, reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant Reformer John Knox during the 16th century, but known not to have been .The house itself was built from 1490 onwards, featuring a fine wooden gallery and hand-painted ceiling...

 (1886), St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh (1892), and St Duthac's Church, Tain

Tain

Tain is a royal burgh and post town in the committee area of Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland.-Etymology:...

 (1896). Secular work includes Mayville Gardens in Trinity, Edinburgh, a pleasant and quirky Victorian cul-de-sac with a low terrace of ornate houses on each side (1881). Other major commissions included houses at Eriska

Eriska

Eriska is a flat, tidal island at the entrance to Loch Creran on the west coast of Scotland. Privately owned, the island is run as a hotel with wooded grounds. The island is evidently populated although no record for the total was provided by the 2001 census....

, Argyll, and Ferguslie Park, Paisley (1888-91), since demolished. Bangour Village Hospital

Bangour Village Hospital

Bangour Village Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located west of Dechmont in West Lothian, Scotland. There was then a general hospital building created so it became Bangour Village Hospital. It was officially opened in October 1906, although the first patients had been admitted in June 1904...

, West Lothian, was a competition win in 1898, and he designed the former Bernard's Brewery buildings in Gorgie

Gorgie

Gorgie is an area of west Edinburgh, Scotland, located near Murrayfield, Ardmillan and Dalry. It is home to Tynecastle Stadium, home of Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian Football Club, and the North British Distillery, which creates a distinctive odour in parts of the area.The area...

 (1887). Blanc also designed several monuments. In 1912 he took his son Frank into partnership, and from 1913 his own architectural work drew to a close. His son continued to practice under the name Hippolyte J. Blanc & Son, until around 1950.

Other activities

In 1871 Blanc was elected president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association for the first of three times. He became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...

 in 1879, a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects

Royal Institute of British Architects

The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...

 (RIBA) in 1901, and was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy

Royal Scottish Academy

The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...

 (RSA) in 1896. In addition, he was an active member of several other learned societies. He wrote and lectured extensively, largely on the subject of medieval church architecture. Blanc served as president and treasurer of the RSA from 1907-17, and was president of the Edinburgh Photographic Society from 1888 until 1892, and honorary

Title of honor

An honorary title or title of honor is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits.Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed does not have to carry any duties, possibly except for...

 president from 1896 until his death. In 1910 he was appointed to a Royal Commission

Royal Commission

In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

 which oversaw British involvement in International Exhibitions held in Brussels (1910), Rome

International Exhibition of Art (1911)

International Exhibition of Art was a world's fair held in Rome in 1911 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy in the same year as another world's fair in Turin . It marked the beginnings of the National Roman Museum...

 (1911) and Turin (1911). He was active in encouraging the careers of younger architects, and acted as assessor on several architectural competitions. Blanc died from pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 at his home at Strathearn Place, Morningside, and was buried in Warriston Cemetery

Warriston Cemetery

Warriston Cemetery lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping site...

.