Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945) was a British architect and artist He was born at Beards Hill, St Peters near Ramsgate, Kent, the second eldest of ten children.
He originally studied at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, but decided not to take up the father's desire that he could take up a career in farming but instead to study architecture. He studied in Bath, but his architectural development was especially marked by the 12 years he spent living in the Isle of Man. The first four years of this time he lived at Alexander Terrace, Douglas. In 1893, he and his family moved to Red House, Victoria Road, Douglas, which he himself had designed.
At the beginning of his career, Scott worked with Fred Saunders, with whom he had studied at the Isle of Man School of Art, which is also in Douglas. In May 1891, he was an art teacher with his certificate. It was at the school of art that Baillie and Archibald Knox became friends. Scott then left Saunders and set up his own business in 23 Athol Street, Douglas.
Scott joined the Arts and Crafts movement, alongside William Morris and John Ruskin; he developed his own unique style however, which progressed towards a simple form of architecture, relying on truth to material and function, and on precise craftsmanship.
Scott was known for the considerable planning he put into his work, spending hours planning the houses and art, both inside and outside. He produced nearly 300 buildings over the course of his career.
Scott produced a considerable body of work, including Red House, Isle of Man; Majestic Hotel, Onchan, Isle of Man; Blackwell, Bowness, Cumbria; Woodbury Hollow, Loughton, Essex; Winscombe House, Crowborough, Sussex; and Oakhams in 1942.
Baillie Scott died at the Elm Grove Hospital in Brighton.
His gravestone in Edenbridge, Kent reads: "Nature he loved and next to nature art".