Robert Alexander Bryden
# Robert Alexander Bryden

Robert Alexander Bryden (7 July 1841 – 14 April 1906) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the second half of the 19th century. He was mainly active in the west of Scotland, where he designed schools, churches and municipal buildings.

## Early life

Bryden was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 7 July 1841, the son of Robert Bryden and Margaret Ramage.

He was educated at Arthur's Academy in Dunoon, Argyll, and Kirkcaldy Grammar School.

## Career

In the 1860s, he was an apprentice at Glasgow-based practice Clarke & Bell, of whom he became a partner around 1875. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1878.

### Selected works

Selected works include:

* Dunoon Burgh Hall (1873)
* St Cuthbert's Church, Dunoon (1874; now demolished)
* St John's Church, Dunoon (1876)
* Dunoon Infants' School (1880)
* Broughton Parish Church (rebuilding; 1886)
* Seafield Children's Hospital (rebuilding; 1888)
* Lanarkshire Regimental Drill Hall, Glasgow (1894)
* Dunoon Pier and offices (rebuilding; 1896)
* Sir Charles Cameron Memorial Fountain, Glasgow (1896) – the clocktower dome of the fountain

## Personal life

Bryden married Elizabeth Robertson, daughter of Alexander Robertson. They had at least one child, a son named Andrew Francis Stewart Bryden (21 October 1876 – 23 February 1917), who also became a noted architect and a Fellow of RIBA. For the final few years of Bryden Sr.'s life, the two worked as partners.

## Death

Bryden died in Glasgow on 14 April 1906, aged 64. He is interred in Dunoon Cemetery, half a mile to the north of Dunoon Burgh Hall, one of his designs. He is believed to be the subject of the building's stained-glass window.

