John Soutar

Who was John Soutar?

John Carrick Stuart Soutar was a Scottish-born architect, and is particularly associated with the design of buildings in Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London.

Soutar's older brother, Archibald Stuart Soutar, was also an architect. Both were admitted LRIBA on 20 March 1911, proposed by William Edward Riley, Arthur Alfred Carder and James Maxwell Scott, of the London County Council architects department. John Soutar had joined the department in 1901 following an apprenticeship with Thomas Martin Cappon.

The Soutar brothers started in independent practice after winning a competition for the layout of Ruislip Manor Estate. This competition was assessed by Raymond Unwin, who subsequently commissioned them to work on Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1913–14. In December 1914, after Unwin was appointed to the Local Government Board, George Lister Sutcliffe took over as consultant architect for the Suburb, but became seriously ill the following year before dying in September 1915. John Soutar then became sole architect to the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, maintaining an office at The Wylde, and designing over 100 houses and other buildings, including parts of The Institute.