Alexander Ross Lindsay was born in Dundee, Forfarshire, Scotland in 1878 and was articled to James Graham Fairley (1846-1934) from 1894 to 1898. He also attended Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh and Glasgow School of Art. He worked as an assistant to George Walton (1867-1933) from 1898 to 1900 in York, in the Architects' Department of Aberdeen School Board from 1900 to 1906, and to David McArthy (1854-1926) in Edinburgh from 1906. Lindsay was subsequently employed as a draughtsman by Carmichael & Sharman, possibly a building firm.
In 1911 Lindsay was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA). By 1914 he was practising in Aberdeen and by the early 1920s he had an office in Edinburgh.
His address was given as 25 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, and 31 Lutton Place, Edinburgh in 1911; 37, Desswood Place, Aberdeen in 1914 and 3, Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh in 1923 and 1926. He appears to have moved to Northern Ireland in the late 1920s as his address was given a Department of Works and Buildings, Ministry of Finance, Government of Northern Ireland, 2 Clanchattan Street, Belfast in 1930; 34 Hopefield Avenue, Belfast in 1935 and 1939.; and 46 Willowbank Gardens, Belfast in 1948. He died in Belfast on 14 February 1948. By the time of his death he had been elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001