Hugh McGregor Reid was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1906, and was educated at Christ Church School and St. Stanislaus College, Georgetown. He began his career as a clerk at Bettencourt and Co., Georgetown, before moving on to work as a costing engineer and draughtsman and Elmhurst Contracting Company, in the same city. He also appears to have established his own practice, and is recorded as working on the redesign of St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital and preparing plans for the redevelopment of Water Street, following the ‘Great Fire’ of 1945. By 1948 he is listed as employed as Draughtsman (1st Assistant), for the Public Works Department, Georgetown. In 1955, aged 49, he enrolled on the AA’s Department of Tropical Architecture course, before returning back to Georgetown and establishing the firm McGregor Reid and Associates. Among his notable projects was the additions and modifications to Castellani House in 1965, transforming this 19thC mansion into the official residence of the Prime Minister of Guyana, a status it held until 1993, when it became home to Guyana's National Art Gallery.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1924-1963, AA Archives
• Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives
• Architectural Association List of Members: 1961, 1979
• Who is who in British Guiana 1945-1948, Daily Chronicle Ltd., 1948
• Personalities Caribbean, Vol. 7. Personalities Ltd., 1983