Long before sustainability became a boardroom buzzword, Alexander “Greek” Thomson was quietly designing buildings that put people, light and longevity first. The 19th-century Glasgow-based architect and theorist approached every commission holistically, considering how spaces would be lived in as well as how they would look on the skyline. In 1966, historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock ranked him among the greatest architects in the Western world, alongside Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
His nickname reveals the key to his vision. Inspired deeply by the proportions and poetry of Ancient Greece, Thomson reinterpreted classical temples for a modern, industrial city, favouring bold geometry, colonnades, deep cornices and expansive glass treated as sculpted voids.
With most of his work rooted in Scotland, particularly Glasgow, he fused Greek and Mediterranean motifs into a unique style, collaborating with artists and craftsmen to create complete works of architecture. The result was not imitation classicism, but something fresh and elegant that still feels strikingly contemporary today.
Classical Ideals Filtered Through Everyday Life
Many of Thomson’s most striking survivors read like stone translations of the Parthenon, adapted for the bustle of Victorian Glasgow. For example, St Vincent Street Church, built between 1857 and 1859, rises above the city with the calm authority of a classical temple, its commanding portico, clean lines and rhythmic columns creating a sense of order and monumentality rare in ecclesiastical design.
Nearby, the Egyptian Halls on Union Street reveal a more commercial take on the same language. Stacked façades, strong horizontal bands and precise proportions echo ancient precedents while accommodating shops and offices. The Grecian Chambers on Sauchiehall Street continues this approach, pairing classical restraint with modern function and now housing the Centre for Contemporary Arts.
Elsewhere, Thomson’s domestic and mixed-use projects show how his classical ideals filtered into everyday life. Holmwood House in Cathcart, widely regarded as his finest villa and open to the public through the National Trust for Scotland, blends temple-like symmetry with light-filled interiors and decorative friezes inspired by Homer.
An Enduring Fascination with Ancient Greece
Thomson’s architecture speaks to something broader than bricks and mortar. It reveals a persistent cultural pull towards the ideals of Ancient Greece. That fascination hasn’t faded into academic history; it continues to surface in contemporary life. From the Festival of Greek Culture in Worcestershire, which recently drew around 20,000 visitors to celebrate Mediterranean food, music and tradition, to the 2025 London Book Fair, where the Greek Pavilion spotlighted the enduring power of classical storytelling.
You can see it just as clearly in popular culture. High fashion has embraced the divine and the dramatic, with the latest Met Gala taking the myth of Narcissus as its creative spark, while Hollywood prepares for Christopher Nolan’s ambitious take on The Odyssey. Even leisure and entertainment nod to Olympus, with iGaming favourites like Age of the Gods bingo joining new slot additions such as Zeus vs Hades: Gods of War 250 at online casinos, each adapting Greek mythology for the digital age.
Meaning and Civic Pride
More than a historical curiosity, Thomson’s celebration of Ancient Greek influences remains instructive today. His buildings prove that classical proportion, human-centred design and long-term thinking create places that last. For today’s property and construction leaders, his Glasgow legacy is not nostalgia; rather, it is a blueprint for architecture with both meaning and civic pride.
