Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, Robert (1776-1856)
REID, ROBERT (1776–1856), of Lowood, architect, was born in 1776. He competed for the laying out of Moray Park, Edinburgh, and the lower part of the new town, begun early in the 19th century. In 1806 he designed the bank of Scotland; 1808–10, the new courts of justice, embracing three sides of Parliament Square, and the upper library of the Society of Writers to the Signet; 1810, the lunatic asylum, Morning Side; 1811–14, St. George's Church, the custom-house at Leith, and several other public buildings. He exhibited architectural designs at the Royal Academy, 1818–20. In 1820 he designed St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews, the east wing of which was completed in 1831 at a cost of about 10,000l. About the same time he made considerable additions to St. Mary's College. He was the last master of the king's works, or king's architect, in Scotland, an office abolished on 5 April 1840. He died at Edinburgh, 20 March 1856, and was buried in the Dean cemetery.
[Dictionary of Architecture; Graves's Dict of Artists; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists, s.v. Reed; Gent. Mag. 1856, i. 547.]