Peter McKissock

Peter McKissock (1831–1898), son of a mason from Ballantrae, Ayrshire, became a builder in Partick, Glasgow. 1 He was a partner in the City of Glasgow Bank, and his assets were sequestrated on the collapse of that institution in 1878. 2 Despite this major setback, McKissock recovered sufficiently to have 27 employees in 1881. 3 By now, the firm was sometimes styled '& Son', although Peter Junior (born c. 1867) was still just an apprentice. 4 McKissock Senior became an elder of Free St Matthew's Church, Bath Street. 5 He was a member of the building committee for Queen's Cross Church, and was responsible for suggesting John Keppie as architect. 6 He appears to have been a member of the Sabbath Protection Association, and he opposed the running of Corporation trams on Sundays. 7

In the late 1880s, the McKissocks were undertaking various small-scale domestic projects, including semi-detached villas in West Kilbride, a dwelling in Balshagray Avenue, Glasgow and 'self contained houses' in (Victoria) Park Gardens, Broomhill. 8 The company built the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, by John W. Simpson & E. J. Milner Allen of London; the Northern Police Office in Maitland Street, Glasgow, to the designs of the City Architect, John Carrick; the Ingram Street addition to the General Post Office, designed by W. W. Robertson; and a number of residential schemes in the burgh of Partick, including 18 terraced houses on the E. side of Kent Avenue (later renamed Orleans Avenue). 9

Peter McKissock Junior formed a limited company after his father's death, the shareholders including James McMichael, and future partner, John Gardner. 10 Peter McKissock & Gardner, building contractors of 180 Hope Street, entered voluntary liquidation in 1903–4, owing money to quarrymasters and cement suppliers, and thereafter ceased trading. 11