R. A. McGilvray & Ferris

Carvers and plasterers

R. A. McGilvray & Ferris was a firm of plasterers, sculptors and modellers, which had its origins in a plastering business founded in 1869 by James Steel Junior, acquired by R. A. McGilvray (1849–1914) in 1878. 1

Richard Ferris (1860–1915) followed his father Thomas into the plastering trade and between 1879 and 1887 also attended the Glasgow School of Art where he studied modelling and scultpure under John Mossman, among others. In 1886, Ferris's student work attracted Robert McGilvray's attention. From 1888 onwards, Ferris worked from McGilvray's business at 129 West Regent Street. The two men collaborated for a number of years before formally appearing as R. A. McGilvray & Ferris in the Glasgow Post Office Directory in 1905, while also continuing to advertise individually. Later in his career, Ferris taught modelling at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College.

Ferris married Mary Clarkson in 1890 and had two sons, Thomas and James. 2

In addition to their large volume of work for John Honeyman & Keppie / Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh, McGilvray & Ferris's firm carried out sculptural work on numerous important city centre buildings in Glasgow. These included the figures on the Scottish Temperance League building (Salmon & Son, 1893–4); relief decoration on the facade of Mercantile Chambers (Salmon, Son & Gillespie, 1897–8); allegorical statues of Europe and America for Atlantic Chambers, Glasgow (J. J. Burnet, 1899–1900); and figures for Waterloo Chambers (J. J. Burnet, 1898–1900). 3

McGilvray seems to have retired around 1909, as only his home address is included under his name in the Glasgow Post Office Directory. The firm R. A. McGilvray & Ferris continued until December 1914, when it was purchased by George Rome & Co., shortly after McGilvray's death. Ferris outlived his former business partner by only a few months. 4

B/W Advertisement for R.A. McGilvray & Ferris, 'Glasgow Building Trades Exchange', 1896, p. 212

Notes:

1: Industries of Glasgow, 1888, p. 181; 'Death of Mr R. A. McGilvray', Glasgow Herald, 2 October 1914, p. 4.

2: Birth, death and census records, www.scotlandspeople [accessed 27 March 2013]; Public Sculpture of Glasgow, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002, p. 483; Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1888–9, p. 253; 1905–6, pp. 285, 462.

3: Ray McKenzie, Sculpture in Glasgow: An Illustrated Handbook, Glasgow: Foulis Archive Press, 1999, p. 71; Ray McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Glasgow, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002, pp. 335, 451, 483; Elizabeth Williamson, Anne Riches and Malcolm Higgs, Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow, Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 227–8, 235.

4: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1909–10, pp. 245, 424; death records, www.scotlandspeople [accessed 27 March 2013]; Edinburgh Gazette, 1 January 1915, p. 17.

'Mackintosh Architecture' led by The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; with additional support from The Monument Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; and collaborative input from Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.