East Newport - Alexander Robertson

Alexander Robertson had an impressive house-building record, mostly in East Newport. A plasterer to trade, he had come to Newport from Newburgh with his father (also a plasterer) and his young family in the 1860s. Soon he was employing upwards of a dozen men. He built Woodside at the top of James Street in the 1860s, and the adjoining building around 1872.

His next project was Struan Place which he also completed in the early 1870s. In the 1880s he was busy with houses in West Newport, in Beechwood Terrace East and West, then returned to East Newport for his biggest projects.

Linden Avenue was completed in the early 1890s, followed by Norwood in the mid 1890s. Around 1900 he built 23 and 25 Westfield Terrace in West Newport. He had lived at Woodside in James Street since his arrival in Newport, but after building the Westfield Terrace houses he moved into number 23 until his death in 1905 aged only 64.