SCOTT, Adrian Gilbert (1882-1963), a member of the Scott family dynasty of architects in London, England. He was the grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), and the son of George Gilbert Scott (1839-1897). His brother was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) and all four members of the Scott family executed works in Canada. Adrien G. Scott completed one major work in Canada, that for St. James Anglican Church in Vancouver, B.C. (1935-36), now considered a masterpiece of contemporary Art Deco architecture. Derived from a octagonal plan, the striking purity of the stepped form, clad with concrete walls, makes this a distinctive early modernist landmark, radically different from the Gothic expression used in Toronto by his brother Giles G. Scott for the large chapel at Trinity College at the Univ. of Toronto, erected more than ten years later (1950-53). The illusion created by Adrian Scott in Vancouver is that the dramatic form of the church is an entirely new invention; in fact, it is a close replica of an earlier church designed by his brother Sir Giles G. Scott called St. Alban's Catholic Church, Golder's Green, London (1918). A detailed analysis and comparison of these two churches was recently published by Barry Magrill in his book entitled A Commerce of Taste: Church Architecture in Canada 1867-1914, 2012, 149-52, illus.
Adrian Scott was born in London in 1882 and, like his older brother Giles, he trained in the office of the late Victorian architect Temple L, Moore (1856-1920), a prolific ecclesiastical designer credited with more that 30 churches throughout England. Scott then assisted his older brother in London, and developed his own independent career after obtaining the commission for the new Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt (1918-1938). Scott died on 23 April 1963 (obituary The Times [London], 24 April 1963, 16; obit. The Builder [London], cciv, 26 April 1963, 839; and 3 May 1963, 874; obituary R.I.B.A. Journal [London], lxx, July 1963, 298-99; biog. and list of works in the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982, Vol. 4, p. 12; biog. R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, pub. 2001, Vol. ii, 554)
VANCOUVER, B.C., St. James Anglican Church, East Cordova Street, designed 1934; built 1935-36; in collaboration with local supervising architects Sharp & Thompson (Vancouver News-Herald, 26 July 1934, 8; News-Herald [Vancouver], 12 Nov. 1935, 8; and 31 Aug. 1936, 12, descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, June 1937, 106-08, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver Province - Saturday Magazine, 7 Jan. 1939, 3, illus.; H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 716-18, illus. & descrip.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., St. James Anglican Church, a large altar canopy or "tester", designed by Scott for the interior of the church, 1941 (The Province (Vancouver), 8 Feb 1941, 21, descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 8 Feb. 1941, 10, descrip.)