John Millar

Millar, John (1735-1801). Millar was born in Lanarkshire, son of a minister. Educated at Hamilton Grammar School and Glasgow University, he became a lawyer and in 1761 accepted the regius chair at Glasgow, which he held for the rest of his life. The Glasgow Law School flourished under his supervision and his pupils included Lauderdale and Melbourne. Most influential was his The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks (1771). Heavily influenced by Montesquieu and Hume, it was a pioneering work in comparative sociology.

?Irish architect trained by Hopper. Having worked on Hopper's prodigious Romanesque Revival Gosford Castle, Co. Armagh (1819–21), he settled in Belfast. He designed some remarkable Presbyterian churches (1830s) in an advanced, austerely noble Greek Revival style, including the First Presbyterian Church, Antrim (1834—with Doric columns possibly derived from those of the Temple of Apollo at Delos published by Stuart and Revett (1794)) and the splendid Portaferry Church, Co. Down (1841—an amphi-prostyle hexastyle Temple of the same severe Order on a high podium, a building in the first rank of Neo-Classical designs in the British Isles, with an interior Order derived from that of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae). At Crumlin, Co. Antrim, he designed the pretty Gothic Revival Presbyterian Church (inscribed Ecclesia Scotia and signed by Millar—1839), and another Neo-Classical church at Castlereagh (the last of 1834–5, with a handsome in antis distyle Ionic Order of engaged columns (again derived from the Temple at Bassae, possibly the earliest use of this Order in the British Isles), with a severe circular belfry rising from a square base above the front: the building was spoiled (2001) by an inappropriate addition). Millar also designed some fine houses, among them Marino Villas (c.1830—Tudor Gothic) and Windrush House (formerly Ardville), of c.1845— with a central bow embellished with a Giant Order of engaged Ionic columns), both at Cultra, Holywood, Co. Down. In 1849 Millar was called on to report on progress at Garron Tower, near Carnlough, Co. Antrim, apparently designed and built by Charles Campbell of Newtownards (who also worked at Mount Stewart, Co. Down). Millar emigrated to the Antipodes in 1856.

Bibliography

• Brett (1996, 2002)
• Colvin (1995)
• Perspective: Journal of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, iii/1 (Sept./Oct. 1994), 55–7
• Ulster Architect, xi/9 (Sept./Oct. 1994), 4–6

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

John Millar may refer to:

• John Millar (philosopher), Scottish philosopher and historian
• John A. Millar, New Zealand politician
• John Millar (Canadian politician)
• Sandy Millar, John Alexander Millar, Anglican bishop

See also

• John Miller (disambiguation)
• John Millar Watt, Scottish artist

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