Born 9 July 1834, the son of James Ross, an architect.   He took over his father’s office in Inverness following his death in 1853, entering into partnership with William Joass in 1859.  Married in 1865.

He travelled extensively, both round the Highlands, drawing medieval castles, visiting St. Kilda, going on study tours round English cathedrals (beautiful abstract drawings of Durham Cathedral) and twice down the Rhine, as interested in the landscape as buildings and studying its geology.  In his architecture, he was as interested in the relationship of buildings to their surroundings as, also, in their ground plan.

He did an immense amount of architectural work, not just in Inverness, including its cathedral, but throughout the Highlands.  He began by building on Ardross Street in Inverness, where he lived; started work on Inverness Cathedral in 1866.  He went on to design churches; town halls; Duncraig Castle in 1866 for Alexander Matheson, the opium trader; it was enlarged four years later; Invergordon Castle in 1873; Eden Court and Torridon House in 1874; Aberlour Girls’ School, also in 1874; Portree Parochial School in 1875; Urrie House in 1883; Skibo Castle in 1901 for Andrew Carnegie, the Scots-born steel magnate.  He did well over 1000 buildings, many of which have since been demolished, including work on the sea-front at Oban.

He is said to have done only three sketches for Ardtornish – a way of designing in a purely scenic way, interested in how it looks from down the Loch, its best view still.

It seems to have been a very business-liie approach: a quick sketch; then left to the office to work up into detailed drawings.  It gave him time for local politics and he was big in freemasonry as well.

So, well worth looking at afresh.