John Fairweather

John Fairweather FRIBA (5 February 1867 – 13 January 1942) was a British architect, who specialised in cinemas.

For the footballer, see Wilson Fairweather.

Edinburgh Playhouse, 2009

Early life

John Fairweather was born on 5 February 1867, at 11 Franklin Terrace, Anderston, Glasgow , the son of John Fairweather, a farmer, draper and mercantile clerk in the wool trade from Alyth, and his wife Elizabeth Brown Fyfe who came from Leuchars.[1]

Career

Fairweather was the in-house architect for the Green’s cinema chain.[2]

Fairweather was the architect of Green's Playhouse, which opened in Glasgow in 1927, and of the Edinburgh Playhouse which opened in 1927 and is the UK's largest working non-sporting theatre in terms of audience capacity. He designed The Playhouse, Colchester, Essex, which opened in 1929, and has been a Wetherspoon's pub since 1984.[3]

Personal life

Fairweather married Evelyn Ronaldson in 1906 and their son William John Fairweather, born in 1907, also became an architect, starting as an assistant to his father.[1]

Death

He was killed on 13 January 1942 during the wartime blackout, crossing Cumbernauld Road in Stepps.[1]

Legacy

In April 2014, Wetherspoon's announced that the Savoy Cinema in Cambuslang, designed by Fairweather and built in 1929, and later a bingo hall in the 1960s, before closing in the 2000s, would become a pub named the John Fairweather, in his honour.[2]

References
  1. "John Fairweather". scottisharchitects. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  2. Smith, Kenny (17 April 2014). "Pub chain reveals name for Cambuslang outlet". The Daily Record. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. "Playhouse (Colchester)". The Theatres Trust. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
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