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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, in 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 (1876–1917), who also became a noted architect and a Fellow of RIBA. For the final few years of his father's life, the two worked as partners.
Death
Bryden died in Glasgow in 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.
