James Gillespie Graham was a Scottish 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...

, born in Dunblane

Dunblane

Dunblane is a small cathedral city and former burgh north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The town is situated off the A9 road, on the way north to Perth. Its main landmark is Dunblane Cathedral and the Allan Water runs through the town centre, with the Cathedral and the High...

. He is most notable for his work in the Scottish baronial style, as at Ayton Castle, and he worked in the Gothic Revival style, in which he was heavily influenced by the work of Augustus Pugin

Augustus Pugin

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work in the Gothic Revival style, particularly churches and the Palace of Westminster. Pugin was the father of E. W...

. However, he also worked successfully in the neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 style as exemplified in his design of Blythswood House near Glasgow.

Graham designed principally country houses and churches. He is also well known for his interior design

Interior design

Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...

, his most noted work in this respect being that at Taymouth Castle

Taymouth Castle

Taymouth Castle is situated just north-east of the village of Kenmore, Perth and Kinross in the Highlands of Scotland.It stands on the site of the much older Balloch Castle , which was demolished to be rebuilt on a much larger scale in the early 19th century by the Campbells of Breadalbane.It was...

 and Hopetoun House

Hopetoun House

Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun . It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The interior was completed by his sons John Adam and Robert...

.

Some of his principal churches include St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow, and St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Roman Catholic)

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption is a Roman Catholic church located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, and principal church of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh...

 and the Highland Tolbooth Church (now The Hub

The Hub (Edinburgh)

The Hub, at the top of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, is the home of the Edinburgh International Festival, and a central source of information on all the Edinburgh Festivals. Its gothic spire - the highest point in central Edinburgh - towers over the surrounding buildings, including the adjacent castle...

) in Edinburgh. His houses include Cambusnethan House

Cambusnethan House

Cambusnethan House, or Cambusnethan Priory, in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, was designed by James Gillespie Graham and completed in 1820. It is generally regarded as being the best remaining example of a Graham-built country house in the quasi-ecclesiastical style of the Gothic revival...

 in Lanarkshire.

He was also responsible for laying out the Drumsheugh area of Edinburgh's New Town, and for the design of Hamilton Square

Hamilton Square

Hamilton Square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England is a town square surrounded by Georgian terraces. No two sides of the square are identical. It was built beginning in 1826 and to the design of Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham...

 and adjoining streets in the then new town of Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, England. According to the writer Frank Arneil Walker

Frank Arneil Walker

Frank Arneil Walker OBE is a Scottish architectural academic and writer.He is emeritus professor of architecture of the University of Strathclyde...

 he may have been responsible for the remodelling of Johnstone Castle

Johnstone Castle

Johnstone Castle is a structure and former mansion in the town of Johnstone in Renfrewshire, Scotland.It belonged to the Houstouns of Milliken, who acquired the estate of Easter Cochrane in 1773...

, Renfrewshire.