Gillespie, Kidd & Coia was a Scottish architectural firm famous for their application of modernism in churches and universities, as well as at St Peter's Seminary in Cardross.

In 1923, he left for travel to Europe and work in London, returning as a partner in 1927, at Kidd’s request following Gillespie’s death.

In 1938, Thomas Warnett Kennedy became a partner with Coia, contributing to designs for St Peter in Chains, Ardrossan, and the Roman Catholic pavilion for the Glasgow Empire Exhibition.

[4] This led to the development of an atelier-style practice, with Coia gradually handing over design control to concentrate on client relations.

In 1954 Andy MacMillan, a contemporary of Metzstein at the GSA, joined the firm from the East Kilbride Development Corporation, and despite neither of the young architects being fully qualified, they had assumed creative control by 1956.

[4] Meanwhile, Coia continued to keep up the profile of the practice through lecturing and through his roles as a prominent member of the Catenian Association of Catholic professionals, as a governor of the GSA, and as president of the Glasgow Institute of Architects.

[4] The church-building programme drew to a close in the 1970s, and Gillespie, Kidd & Coia began to seek out alternative sources of work.

Early works were executed in a neo-romanesque style, with features such as round arches inserted into building shapes influenced by Arts and Crafts architecture and international-style modernism.

[4] The third and most celebrated phase is the period 1956-1987, when Metzstein and MacMillan took over creative control, bringing with them the influence of Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.

[4] Concrete, as well as brick, became a preferred material, and the practice continued to be influenced by contemporary developments of Mid-Century modernism and brutalism.

This group of architects, which included Gerard Goalen, Francis Pollen, Desmond Williams and Austin Winkley, utilised contemporary design and construction methods to deliver the ‘noble simplicity’ instructed by Vatican I.

The firm undertook relatively little residential work, with projects in East Kilbride, Cumbernauld (1961), and Stantonbury, Milton Keynes (1976), as well as sheltered housing in Dumbarton (1967).

These included one large block containing new undergraduate accommodation and a college library, and a smaller addition behind the King's Arms pub.

This includes a small music shop for Blackwell's, described as "a refreshing, shocking contribution to the gloomy Oxford backstreet in which it stands" by the Architects' Journal.