Alexander Macpherson [1] [also known as Alex Macpherson] was born in Roswallon, Forfarshire, Scotland [2] in c.1851 [3].
Nothing is known about his training as an architect. He was never accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
By 1881 he was living in Derby, Derbyshire, England. From c.1882 until at least the late 1920s he was in practice as an architect at 16 Tenant Street, Derby. For some of this period he was in partnership with W. E. Richardson as Macpherson & Richardson [4].
MacPherson designed buildings in a variety of styles ranging from Baroque, Jacobean and Tudor, to Queen Anne, Arts and Crafts and Classical.
Macpherson was at one time President of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Architectural Society.
Macpherson's address was given as 32 Iron Gate, Derby in 1881; 122 Goldsmith Street, Nottingham in 1894; 31, Redcliffe Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire in 1901; and, from 1911, Marchington, Magdala Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. He died in Nottingham on 17 December 1935. His address at the time of his death was given as 34 Magdala Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
His son, John Macpherson (c.1891-1916) was also an architect
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[1] Census records give the spelling of his surname a Macpherson, not MacPherson.
[2] In the 1881 and 1901 England Census he gave his place of birth as Scotland. In the 1911 Census he gave it as Roswallon, Forfarshire, Scotland. Other sources give, evidently incorrectly, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, as his place of birth
[3] His age is given as 60 in the 1911 Census and so his year of birth is assumed to have been c.1851
[4] It is unclear when Richardson joined the practice. Like Macpherson, he appears not to have been accredited by the RIBA
Notable among buildings by Macpherson and his practice were Derbyshire Hospital for Sick Children in Derby (1882-83) St George's Church in Derby (1890); Stud House, Lime Avenue, Osmaston Manor, Derbyshire (1897); Littleover Old Hall, Derby (1898); Derby Friendly and Trade Societies’ Hall on Normanton Road and Burton Road, Derby (1903); Public Baths, Reginald Street, Derby (1904: New School for Weak Minded Children, Osmaston Road, Derby (1904); Co-operative Central Warehouse, Wood Street, Derby (1904;) Tramways Office, Victoria Street, Derby (1903-04); T.E. Yeomans and Sons, tobacconists, St. Peter’s Street, Derby (1914); Co-operative Society Stores, East Street and Exchange Street, Derby (1914); Derbyshire Hospital for Sick Children, North Street, Derby (1914); and Bemrose School, Uttoxeter New Road, Derby (1928-30).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London: Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 149, 27 December 1935 p. 1138