R. Aitkenhead & Son

R. Aitkenhead & Son of Greenock were an offshoot of a large family of stonemasons from the weaving town of Blantyre, Lanarkshire, who had been building bridges and other structures in the Hamilton and Bothwell area since the late 18th century. The Greenock branch was founded by Alexander Aitkenhead (1858–1933). He had trained as an apprentice in the firm and spent two years further training in North America in the late 1870s.

In 1882–3 the company had erected Mure Memorial Church, Baillieston, and Girvan Parish Church, 1 and one of Alexander's first jobs on returning to Scotland was as foreman for another new church, in Blantyre. He moved to Greenock in 1883 to supervise construction of Finnart United Presbyterian Church, and opened new offices in South Street, where he was joined briefly by a cousin from Blantyre. 2

Alexander won contracts for Tarbert Parish Church, Kintyre (1885–6) and Dunoon Sheriff Court (1899–1900), both by John McKissack, and for J. J. Burnet's Gardner Memorial Church, Brechin (1897–8). 3 He enlarged the 'splendid palace' of Balinakill House, Kintyre for shipowner and philanthropist Sir William MacKinnon in the early 1890s, and erected over 30 villas in the wealthy enclave of Kilmacolm, where Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh had several clients.

R. Aitkenhead & Son became major contractors to the War Office following their work on the masonry and sub-sea defences of Fort Matilda in Greenock. Their experience in maritime defence led to fortification work at Inchkeith on the Firth of Forth, and massive concrete gun batteries at Portkil, Kilcreggan (1900–1) and Ardshallow on the Clyde. 4 These were 'hidden, sheltered, protected by heavy earthworks', and contained long-range guns – a complete contrast to the new St Lawrence's Catholic Church in Greenock, 'so delicately wrought'. 5

For industrial clients Aitkenhead's made the concrete bases for the Scottish Aluminium Co.'s heavy machinery, laid the concrete floors of local shipyards to withstand the pressure of keels under construction, and extended Ardgowan Distillery, with its necessarily high load-bearing capacity. The firm used advanced technology itself, including mechanical planes to shape stones on trolleys, and had its own railway sidings at its Trafalgar Street yard. 6

The Aitkenhead partners changed over time. In 1896, both branches were reorganised, and Alexander and his younger brother Andrew (1869–1910) became sole proprietors at Greenock, 7 where they moved to Trafalgar Street. Other family members joined them around 1911, including Robert Aitkenhead ( Alexander's son, 1881–1958), who was one of two architects in the family at the time with the same name. 8