Rollo, Andrew

Person

Rollo, Andrew

Andrew Rollo, was born in Glasgow on 19 March 1877, one of 6 surviving children of Jane (née Neilson) and David Rollo, an ironmonger's salesman. Rollo studied architecture at The Glasgow School of Art from 1894 until 1899 under William James Anderson and Alexander McGibbon, whilst working as an apprentice. He worked with Bruce and Hay for two years before transferring to another Glasgow architectural practice, Stark and Rowntree. In 1900, the partnership of Stark and Rowntree was dissolved due to Stark's ill health and as a consequence of a long succession of near misses in national competitions, including in 1896, an unsuccessful competition design for The Glasgow School of Art. Rollo moved with Rowntree to London, where he passed the qualifying exam in 1903. He was admitted ARIBA on 29 February 1904, his proposers being William Henry Thorp, James Archibald Morris of Ayr, McGibbon, and John Slater of London. He was the Institute Medallist (Drawings) in 1903 and also qualified with the RIBA Diploma in Town Planning. Rollo spent the years 1907-1915 in Toronto as assistant to Messrs Darling & Pearson. He returned to serve in WW1 with the Royal Engineers 640th (Lowland) Field Company, probably with the 1st Provisonal Brigade (later the 221st Mixed Brigade) whose home guard role involved protecting the Kent coast. Rollo became an Acting Sergeant with transport duties. After the war ended, he joined the Midland Garden Cities Development in Birmingham where he remained for a number of years before returning to Edinburgh. By 1928, he had become chief draughtsman with Edinburgh City Architect's Department, initially under James Anderson Williamson. He took a leading part in preparing plans for the works carried out by the Corporation before the Second World War, including the new housing schemes, and prepared the plans for the report on the Royal Mile drawn up by Ebenezer James MacRae as well as collaborating on 'The Heritage of Greater Edinburgh' and the 'Inventory of Ancient and Historical Monuments of the City of Edinburgh' published in 1931. He was involved with much slum clearance and reconstruction work with his post in the City Architect's Department Rollo retired in 1946 and worked for the National Buildings Record, now NMRS which holds a collection of his student drawings. He died on 29 November, 1951. Andrew Rollo is commemorated on The Glasgow School of Art's First World War Roll of Honour.

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Sources: Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.co.uk; Scotland's People: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk; The National Archives: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk; The Long Trail: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk; The Dictionary of Scottish Architects: http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk; Find my Past; http://www.findmypast.co.uk

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