David Cousin: versatile Victorian architect
David Cousin (1809-1878) was an immensely versatile Victorian architect and town planner. As Edinburgh’s city architect he was responsible with his colleague John Lessels for redeveloping areas around the High Street. He created several large garden cemeteries, and built domestic and public buildings all over Scotland from the highlands to the borders. Arguably under-appreciated outside the world of architecture, he had a wide-ranging influence on the Scottish built environment, especially in Edinburgh. There, the impact of his buildings is sometimes only subconsciously perceptible to the casual observer. Yet his buildings, blending in with ancient streets, have helped to create the distinctive cityscape of Edinburgh, admired all over the world.
Family and early life
David Cousin’s parents, John (1781-1862) and Isabella, née Paterson (1813-1861), initially lived in Trinity, Edinburgh. Previous Cousin generations came from Fife; a family tradition held that they were of Huguenot origin. John and Isabella’s first son David died as an infant as did, it can probably be assumed, a second, Robert. Surviving sons were George (b.1807), David (b.1809), and William (b.1812). George became a surveyor and valuer, and Edinburgh town councillor and magistrate; he was to remain close to David personally and professionally. William moved from Edinburgh and became a Free Church minister.
John Cousin, while primarily a joiner and builder, was termed ‘architect’ in 1819 on plans for a tap room in West Register Street and in 1830 he was living in Jamaica Street with sufficient money to send William to the Edinburgh Academy. David was educated locally, learning joinery from his father. He was interested in science, conducting experiments in his father’s workshop and studying with a local mathematician, Edward Sang. By 1830 the Cousin family had moved to Fettes Row, with business premises in Silvermills, David being described as a surveyor. He began architectural training with William Henry Playfair, who was then engaged on the National Gallery of Scotland and Donaldson’s Hospital. David found him a hard taskmaster, according to his own pupil John McLachlan, and he left
