James Osborne Craig was born in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, Scotland on 2 November 1888. After studying in Scotland, he attended the Royal Academy Schools in London. He subsequently moved to the USA and established an architectural practice in Santa Barbara, California. Craig designed El Paseo on State Street, an outdoor shopping complex adjacent to the adobe in the Spanish Colonial style, which became the model for Southern California's outdoor shopping malls, and was engaged on the restoration of the de la Guerra Plaza in Santa Barbara.
A photograph of a small house in Montecito, California, designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1926 (p.32).
Craig died in Ojai, California, in April 1922. His wife, Mary Craig, was also an architect and worked on a number of her husband's projects following his death including the El Paseo complex.
Skewes-Cox, Pamela and Sweeney, Robert. Spanish Colonial Style: Santa Barbara and the architecture of James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig. New York, NY: Rizzoli , 2015 [ISBN-10: 0847846121 / ISBN-13: 978-0847846122]
Skewes-Cox, Pamela. In the company of the Craigs. Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara Historical Museum, 2015 [Noticias, Vol. 54, no. 4., 2015]
Withey, Henry F and Withey, Elsie Rathburn. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles, California: New Age Publishing Co., 1956