James Macgregor was born in Garvock Hill, Dunfermline, Scotland on 12 July 1889 and was articled to William Williamson (1851-1952) and John Alexander Russel Inglis (1870-1901) of Williamson & Inglish in Kircaldy from 1904 to 1909. He attended Edinburgh College of Art in 1910. He then worked as a draughtsman to Hippolyte Jean Blanc (1844-1917) from 1911 to c.1914. Macgregor was a Pugin Student in 1912. He qualified as an architect in 1914 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) later that year. In 1914-15 he worked as a draughtsman to Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944) in India.
After war service in World War One, Macgregor commenced independent practice in London in 1919. In 1921 he embarked on an academic career. He was Senior Master in Design and lecturer in Mediaeval Architecture at Manchester University School of Architecture from 1921 to 1923; Studio Master at the Architectural Association in London from 1926 to 1933; lecturer in Architectural History and Design at the London School of Building from 1931 to 1933; Head of Edinburgh School of Architecture from 1933 to 1936; and Director of Cambridge School of Architecture from 1937 to 1953. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1937. He died on 18 March 1953.
Cross House, Kidmore End, Reading (1920-21); House, Garvock Hill, Dunfermline (1922-23); Manchester University Union Pavilion, Fallowfield, Manchester 1922-23; Metallurgy Laboratories. Manchester (1923); flats and shops, Harrow, Middlesex (1930); flats and shops, Wallington, London (1932)
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
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 184, 27 March 1953 p. 500
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 184, 27 March 1953 p. 500
Who's Who in Archirecture 1926. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1926