Alexander Laing (architect)


Alexander Laing was a Scottish architect who was mainly involved in house and castle design.

Life

He appears to be the son of Thomas Laing, a knife- and tool-maker who lived near the Theatre on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
Laing trained as a stonemason, and was also styled "architect", and was based in Edinburgh; He is first listed in Williamson's Edinburgh Directory of 1774 as a "Mason" living at Theatre Row.
Laing married three times: first to Charlotte Polson in 1772, then to Margaret Turnbull in 1786, and finally to Beatrix Currie in 1789.
He had a son, Francis, with Charlotte. He also had a daughter, Jane, who married Captain Alexander Robertson in 1808.
In 1795, Laing purchased the James Adam-designed 7 York Place, the manse for the adjacent St George's Chapel in Edinburgh, where he lived until 1818.
He left York Place in 1818. He moved to 6 Gayfield Place at the top of Leith Walk and was still living there in 1823.
Laing died in Portobello in 1823, aged 71.

Known works

Laing's works include: