J. J. Stevenson

the geologist
British architect

John James Stevenson FRSE FSA FRIBA (24 August 1831 – 5 May 1908), usually referred to as J. J. Stevenson, was a British architect of the late Victorian era. Born in Glasgow, he worked in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. He is particularly associated with the British Queen Anne revival style.

Stevenson was born in Glasgow on 24 August 1831, the sixth of ten children of Jane Stewart Shannan (daughter of Alexander Shannan, a Greenock merchant) and James Stevenson, a merchant of Glasgow.

Stevenson trained as an architect with David Bryce in Edinburgh and Sir George Gilbert Scott in London. He then worked with Campbell Douglas in Glasgow, becoming a partner in 1860, they then jointly moved to a property at 24 George Street in Edinburgh, sharing the space with the stained glass artist Daniel Cottier. From 1870 he worked in London. Here he built the "Red House" in Bayswater Hill as his own home. Author of the architecture text, House Architecture (1880), Stevenson also wrote on town planning and the preservation of historic buildings, criticising the "dull and uninteresting" architecture of his age and the "infatuation for making streets straight". He also designed the interiors of several ocean liners.

In 1861, he married Jane Omond (1839–1932), daughter of Mary Eliza Traill and Robert Omond. His brother in law was Robert Traill Omond. He died at his home, 4 Porchester Gardens in London on 5 May 1908 and his body was returned to Edinburgh for burial in Dean Cemetery. The grave lies against the southern boundary. He is buried with his wife Jane and their children.