Shock as top Scots architect dies at 52

Self-made millionaire Andrew Doolan, the man behind Edinburgh’s Point Hotel, had been feeling unwell for a few days and was rushed into hospital on Monday, but died suddenly. The cause of death is not yet known.

His long-term partner, Marion Caldwell, an advocate at the Scottish Bar, is said to be devastated.

Friends and colleagues today paid tribute to the man who not only designed and ran his own hotel, but also sponsored Scotland’s richest architectural prize to recognise other pioneering design work.

Mr Doolan was involved in several ground-breaking projects in Edinburgh. Early in his career he bought 12 properties on Edinburgh’s Southside which were in a bad state of repair and restored them, laying the foundations of the area’s renewal.

He specialised in giving old buildings a modern twist. His first venture into hotels in Edinburgh was the Bank Hotel in the High Street with just nine bedrooms. He sold it to help fund the development of The Point in Bread Street, which he created on the site of the old St Cuthbert’s co-operative store.

The Point was one of Edinburgh’s first designer hotels, whose guests have included Kylie Minogue. Later, he added the Point Conference Centre to the 8 million development. Three years ago he helped to establish the RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) award for the best building in Scotland which he funded, the 25,000 prize being the most generous in the country for architecture.

Born in Glasgow, the son of a miner and the eldest of three children, Mr Doolan left school with one A-level, in engineering drawing. He joined the fire service in Stirling then got a job as an apprentice architect and attended night school to gain qualifications which allowed him to attend Leeds School of Architecture.

Last year, Mr Doolan, who lived in the Grange, was made a Fellow of the RIAS, a distinction of which he was hugely proud. He was thought to be one of the youngest to be granted such a Fellowship.

In the past 25 years, he carried out work on 50 major buildings. Besides the Point, he was also responsible for the Travel Inn in Morrison Street, a joint venture with Whitbread which was distinguished by an attention to detail not normally seen in budget hotels.

And he had plans for the future including building another new hotel in the Capital.

Recently he completed a smaller scale personal project - the transformation of a C-listed Victorian dwelling house in Dick Place in the Grange with the integration of a two-storey glass and stainless steel structure and a water garden. Besides his architectural interests, Mr Doolan helped to sponsor the arts, including the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art - of which he was a governor. In particular he supported a sculpture scholarship to promote relations between eastern European students and Edinburgh, and he backed French and Italian film festivals.

Sebastian Tombs, secretary of RIAS, said Mr Doolan’s work had attracted interest from well beyond Scotland.

He said: "The Point Hotel did break new ground as a contemporary design, quite radical, but stylish and colourful and priced at an economic level for the average visitor to the city. He was a great patron of architecture and we are all extremely sad.

"It looked as if he was going to be around for a long time, making an important contribution to architecture and to Scotland, but that will no longer be the case."

Peter Wilson, director of the Napier foundation for architecture at Napier University, said Mr Doolan pioneered the role of architects as developers. He said: "He was passionately interested in good architecture and put his money where his mouth was."