Decorative Arts (239) Wed, 22nd Apr 2009, Lot 259

Estimate: £300 - £500 + Fees ‡ JOHN ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL SET OF SIX ARMCHAIRS, 1905 oak with leather upholstery, each with broad and curved back above open arms and upholstered panel seat on square tapered legs linked by stretchers (6) Note; John Archibald Campbell was born in on 26 January 1859. In 1877 Campbell was articled to John Burnet Senior at the age of eighteen. There he was befriended by John James Burnet who returned from Pascal's atelier in in the autumn of that year. In 1880 he followed Burnet to Pascal's atelier and was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux- Arts. He returned to the Burnet practice in 1883, and in 1886 the Burnets took him into partnership, the practice title becoming John Burnet, Son & Campbell.

In the corner block on Hope Street and West George Street of 1902-3, Campbell demonstrated that he was more than equal to Burnet in the design of commercial buildings at that point in time, and as Burnet became increasingly preoccupied with his practice from 1905 Campbell thereafter was rivalled only by James Miller and Burnet Boston & Carruthers as the leading designer of city office blocks in Glasgow.

Apart from professional practice his main interests were travel and golf, for which, about 1903, he built a fine house, Brannochlie, at Bridge of Weir for himself and three other bachelor golfing friends. In 1904 he designed the Clubhouse for Ranfurly Castle Golf Club and the interior fixtures and fittings. The present five lots formed part of that scheme.