William Flockhart was born in 1852 in Kilmarnock the son of a tailor, and attended Glasgow Academy. He was articled to Adamson and McLeod, before he joined Campbell Douglas and Sellars as an assistant in 1875. Flockhart’s formative early experiences were shared with James MacLaren and George Washington Browne sketching French and Baltic architecture, notably in Paris and Normandy. Unlike his companions, Flockhart continue his studies in London from 1877 with the South Kensington Schools.

By 1881 he began a four-year partnership with William Wallace while also working in his own name. The work of the partnership included a formal villa in Hampstead, The Lothians, 1881 and a detailed French Gothic church, in Surrey, the Richmond Presbyterian. By 1885, Flockhart’s used French and Renaissance design, with eclectic detailing, asymmetry and inventiveness, in the house at 1 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, and the Studios for Elliott and Fry in South Kensington.

Flockhart’s rich design was in contrast to the restraint used by his friend, MacLaren, as can be seen in their neighbouring houses in Palace Court, Kensington for Sir Donald Currie (see Journal Volume 5).

His most magnificent building was Rosehaugh in the Black Isle, where his client gave him unlimited canvas. (see Journal Volume 7) Pasturewood, Surrey, 1893, for F J Mirrielees, (Sir Donald Currie’s son-in-law) was an Old English design - it later was the Beatrice Webb House, and now part of Hurtwood House college. Parkwood, Henley, 1902, for Sir Charles Henry, and red brick Chelwood Vachery, East Sussex, for Stuart Samuel, 1906, involved castellated Tudor. In Galewood, Great Shelford, for Charles Samuel Myers, 1908, Flockhart used Free Style to great picturesque effect (See Journal Volume 9).

Flockhart’s diverse portfolio included an extension for the Mechanics’ Institute in Sydenham, 1905, interiors for Mirrielees’ Balmoral Castle, a prestigious passenger steamship, and new retail and business premises composed for the practice at 180 New Bond Street, 1908.

He died in London on 1913 aged 60.

See: Calder, 2014: William Flockhart: A Maverick Architect for the Nouveaux Riches