John James Joass
John James Joass (1868 – 10 May 1952) was a Scottish architect, born in Dingwall, Scotland. His father William Cumming Joass was an established architect in that town. The son was given basic training with his father, and then in 1885 articled with John Burnet & Son in Glasgow, Scotland.
John James Joass

John James Joass · The Architectural Review volume 6 - June to December 1899, page 203 · Public domain
- Born
- 1868
- Died
- 1952
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- architect
- Languages
- English
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John James Joass (1868 – 10 May 1952) was a Scottish architect, born in Dingwall, Scotland. His father William Cumming Joass was an established architect in that town. The son was given basic training with his father, and then in 1885 articled with John Burnet & Son in Glasgow, Scotland.
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John James Joass was an architect and United Kingdom. John James Joass was born in 1868. Died in 1952. The language is English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Family
Family
In 1890 he moved to the firm of Robert Rowand Anderson, and then in 1893 to London, England. After a number of positions he joined John Belcher's practice in 1896. Between 1913 and 1914 the Mappin Terraces of London Zoo were built. Joass was the architect of this project to provide more naturalistic settings for animals at the London Zoo. The terraces with four artificial peaks, the Goat Hills, were innovative both in concept and construction, making use of concrete engineering techniques recently invented in America. In 1905, the partnership was working on the remodeling of a country house in Tapeley Park, in the village of Instow, Devon. This had started in 1898 and continued until 1916, so was presumably completed by Joass after his partner's death. The partnership undertook the Royal Insurance office in Piccadilly, London in 1907–09. Joass was also joint architect of Whiteleys department store, which opened in 1911, and the re-building of the Swan and Edgar department store, after 1920. In 1926 Joass was commissioned to provide an extension to Chartered Accountants Hall, which had originally been designed by Belcher and constructed in the 1890s. Joass' extension provided an additional 5,000 square feet for meeting rooms and offices; the final cost of the extension came to £35,976 9s. He retired to Poole, Dorset sometime after 1930. He was an avid sailor of small sailing craft.
His paternal uncle was the antiquarian and geologist Rev James Maxwell Joass, minister of Golspie.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
John James Joass is recorded with the occupation architect. Recorded as a citizen of United Kingdom. It is also recorded that john James Joass is recorded with the gender male. The record continues: john James Joass died on 10 May 1952.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6241552: John James Joass
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “John James Joass”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Mappin Terraces and Pavilion. London Zoo.
- 2.Goold, David. John James Joass. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. 2016.
- 3.Boys, Peter. Chartered Accountants' Hall: the First Hundred Years. ICAEW. 14–15. 1990. 1853550981.
- 4.Dictionary of Scottish Architects - DSA Architect Biography Report (August 31, 2021, 10:04 am).
- 5.Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae : The succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation. 1915.
References
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Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q6241552: John James JoassWikimedia Foundation
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Secondary witness
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This entry is compiled from 4 catalogued sources across 4 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikimedia Foundation, Crossref registry, Wellcome Collection and Wikipedia. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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