Architect had designs on pub
Paisley is fortunate to have some of the most beautiful buildings in Scotland.
Their splendour is due to distinguished local architects like William Daniel McLennan.
Born in 1872, William got off to a good start in life because his father was a successful shawl manufacturer who provided useful contacts for his son when he went into business for himself, aged just 24.
McLennan’s architecture was a blend of the Scots Baronial Style exemplified at one of his early commissions, the Bull Inn, New Street, which he completed in 1901 – and Art Nouveau – a 19th century European art form characterised by flowing lines, best represented at St Matthew’s Church of the Nazarene in Gordon Street, Paisley, with its magnificent World War I memorial window.
A member of Paisley’s Masonic Lodge Renfrew County Kilwinning No 370, which met in the George A Clark Town Hall, McLennan designed elegant Art Nouveau furniture for the Masonic Temple, in Maxwellton Road originally built in 1886 as a dining hall for management at Ferguslie Thread Works.
He also designed several large private houses in Thornly Park and Crosslee Mill in 1916.
My favourite McLennan building – probably because my parents were married there – is the former Elderslie East Church, which today functions as East Gate Church.
The kirk’s foundation stone was laid at an impressive ceremony in 1899 and the majestic red-bricked building opened for public worship a few months later.
An outstanding example of Decorated Gothic architecture mixed with Art Nouveau, the church faced an uncertain future after closing in 1977 and lying dilapidated for nearly quarter-of-a-century.
In 2001, it mirrored the reconstructed Jerusalem Temple – which inspired Masonic architects like William McLennan – by being restored as a place of worship by Pastor Arthur O’Malley and a dedicated team of helpers who worked day and night to reconsecrate it as a place of worship.
William McLennan died in 1940, aged 68.
Buddies can discover his monument in historic buildings like the Bull Inn, St Matthew’s Church, the Masonic Temple and East Gate Church.