Frank Lewis Worthington Simon (31 March 1862 – 19 May 1933) was a British architect working in the Arts and Crafts style. In Scotland, he was sufficiently noteworthy as to be commissioned by Queen Victoria to remodel Balmoral Castle. In later life he worked in Canada and is best remembered for the Manitoba Legislative Building.[1]
He then returned to Scotland to work with Burnet Son and Campbell in 1886 and later moved to Wardrop & Anderson.
From around 1885 he also had his own studio at 8 York Place in Edinburgh.
In 1887 he formed his own practice in partnership with his friend Stewart Henbest Capper.
In 1890, under the guidance of Robert Rowand Anderson he became one of the founding fathers of Edinburgh College of Art and he and Capper shared the role of teaching architecture there.
In 1898 he brought Alexander Hunter Crawford, who was connected to the Edinburgh company of Crawfords Biscuits, into partnership and the practice moved to 36 Hanover Street. In 1899 this merged with Robert Rowand Anderson’s practice to create Anderson, Simon & Crawford which lasted until 1902 until reverting to its former form and moved to 10 Randolph Place.
In 1903 the partnership with Crawford ended and Simon moved to Liverpool where he formed a new partnership with Huon Arthur Matear. Jointly they created the huge Liverpool Cotton Exchange in 1905 (remodelled 1960). In 1910 Henry Boddington, of the Boddingtons Brewery family, was brought into the partnership.
In 1912 the partnership won the hugely important competition for the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Canada and Simon began regular visits to Canada.[1] He employed Septimus Warwick specifically to help on the Manitoba job and act as job architect on site, a role required until 1920.
Simon married Lavinia Florence Colefax of California and died in Mentone, California in 1933.
Principal works
Outwood, 8 Mortonhall Road, Edinburgh (1888) (for his own father)
^ abcEsrock, Robin (25 May 2023). "The Da Vinci Code of the Prairies". Canadian Geographic Travel. Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
^Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford McWilliam and Walker, ISBN0-14-071068-X