James MacLaren’s youngest brother Thomas was born in 1863, ten years after James. Like his brother he studied at The High School of Stirling which had an excellent art department, and Thomas came out - like James - a fine artist (see volume 4 & volume 10 of the society's Journal for some of his fine work). He too became an architect, joining his brother in London in 1880.

Thomas MacLaren began to establish his own career in addition to assisting his brother and was articled to Wallace and Flockhart. In 1886 he travelled in Europe and in the west of England, having been awarded a Pugin Travelling Scholarship by the Royal Institute of British Architects. His first independent commission was in 1889 – a double cottage at Crawley Down in Sussex, and then Oaklawn also at Crawley Down. Next he designed a vicarage at Horne, Surrey, in 1892. The previous year, trying to escape the British climate that had caused the death of his brother, he spent some time in Switzerland, and in 1893 went to Colorado, but still managed to build in Doune, near Stirling, in 1894 the picturesque row of houses in George Street, for the local Free Kirk minister and provost, George Sutherland Mackay.

Unlike his brother, he managed to have a long and successful career, in Colorado, up to his death at the age of 65. There, along with many other commissions in Colorado Springs, he designed the University of Colorado at Boulder – where the archive of his many fine drawings is kept. In 1905 he returned to Europe to study the Grand Trianon at Versailles, because his client wanted his house, Claremont, to be like it; still a favourite in Boulder is the library; the congregational Church; the Masonic Temple.

In the USA, Thomas’s reputation is maintained, with his buildings in Boulder and Colorado Springs still greatly appreciated. Apart from the University, there is a Thomas MacLaren High School, and a few years ago there was an exhibition of his work, and tours round Colorado Springs. He left his collection of his paintings to the University.