Background
Keppie was born in Glasgow, the fourth son of John Keppie, a wealthy tobacco importer and Helen Cuthbertson Hopkins.
Keppie was born in Glasgow, the fourth son of John Keppie, a wealthy tobacco importer and Helen Cuthbertson Hopkins.
Articled, in 1880, to Campbell Douglas and Sellars, he attended classes at both University of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Artist
Within the architectural profession, he was closest to John Archibald Campbell, and is credited with training Charles Rennie MacKintosh. He also appears to have enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1885, remaining there until 1886. He assisted Sellars with the firm"s winning entry for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888.
Mackintosh joined the firm in 1889 and from the 1890s Keppie appears to have been content to allow him to do most of the designing.
His design for Martyrs" Public School was also executed during this time (1895-1898). Mackintosh was made partner in 1901, and Keppie returned to design, producing a series of Scots Renaissance buildings throughout Glasgow.
He was admitted to the Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1904. The partnership with Mackintosh dissolved in 1913.
Keppie was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1920, and continued to take an active role in professional matters, particularly as a governor of the Glasgow School of Artist
He had been Deacon of the Incorporation of Wrights at the Trades House in 1906 and president of the Glasgow Institute of Architects in 1905, and again in 1919-1920. He endowed the John Honeyman Studentships in architecture and in Sculpture in 1923, and did much to promote the career of Benno Schotz. Keppie"s long service as a governor of Glasgow School of Art ended in his chairmanship in 1930-1932.
He formally retired in 1937.
Keppie never married. He died at his home in Prestwick in 1945.
A full list of commissions can be accessed at John Keppie Dictionary of Scottish Architects. 1888 - Anderson"s College of Medicine, "setting-up" commission from Douglas Campbell.
1889 - Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company offices, Govan (assisted by the young Charles Rennie Macintosh).
Built in the French Renaissance style. 1889 - expansion of Craigrownie parish church, Kilcreggan. 1890 - designed an Egyptian-style granite monument in honour of James Sellars at Lambhill cemetery, for whom he was assistant at the time.
1891 - Loretto School Chapel, Musselburgh.
1891 - extending nave of a church in Rhu. 1892 - remodelled hall and added gallery to Glasgow Art Club.
1893 - remodelling of Glasgow Herald building (Attributed to Mackintosh). 1894 - refurbishment of Street Michael"s Parish Church, Linlithgow.
1895 - medical building for Isabella Elder"s Queen Margaret College
1903 - 137-43 Hope Street.
1905 - McConnel"s Building,
1906 - 307-33 Hope Street. for the Glasgow City Improvement Trust. 1908 - Glasgow Savings Bank, Parkhead. 1910 - at Broughton House, Kirkcudbright.
1927 - Glasgow Trades Hall refurbishment.
1934 - Croftwood Parish Church.
He was president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland in 1924-1926. And as a Council Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects he became its vice president in 1929.