Burnett Napier Henderson Orphoot [also known as B. N. H. Orphoot] was born at 'The Priory' in Eastgate, Peebles, Scotland on 13 April 1880 and was articled to Peddie & Washington Browne in Edinburgh from 1900 to 1903. He also attended Edinburgh School of Applied Art. He then work as an assistant to Robert Rowand Anderson (1834-1921) and Arthur Forman Balfour Paul (1875-1938) of Rowand Anderson & Paul in 1903-04, before going to Paris where he worked as an assistant in the Atelier of Gustav Umbdenstock (1860-1940) and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

In 1906 he returned to Britain and worked as an assistant in the office of Charles Mewes and Arthur Joseph Davis (1878-1951) in London from 1906 to 1908, and to Thomas Edward Collcutt (1840-1920) and Stanley Hinge Hamp (1877-1968) of Collcutt & Hamp in London from 1908 to 1910.

In 1910 Orphoot went back to Edinburgh where he commenced independent practice. In 1922 he formed the partnership Orphoot & Whiting with Frank Edward Whiting (1883-1968). This became Orphoot, Whiting & Bryce the following year when William Theodore Percival Bryce (1892-1973) became a partner. The partnership was dissolved in 1932 and the following year the partnership was re-formed as Orphoot, Whiting & Lindsay in Edinburgh with Ian Gordon Lindsay (1906-1966) as the third partner. Following the outbreak of war the partnership was dissolved in 1940. Orphoot formed a new partnership, Orphoot & Whiting in Edinburgh with Whiting in 1945. This partnership was dissolved in 1952.

Works by Ophoot included the reconstruction of the Princess Theatre in Edinburgh (c.1911); Peebleshire County War Memorial; (1919); Scala Theatre in Edinburgh; New Inn in Clovelly, Devon; housing in Clovelly, Devon; and the Scottish Veterans' Garden City. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914 and 1926]. Other work included Dutch House, North View Road, Budleigh Salterton, Devon (1924); Well House (built for himself), 3, Easter Belmont Road, Edinburgh (1928-31); Bruce House, 5, Easter Belmont Road, Edinburgh (1932); and Regal Cinema, Barnstaple (1937).

In addition to his work as an architect, Orphoot was also a painter and etcher. He exhibited frequently at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh from 1914 to 1956, and in 1966 (two years after his death). He also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

His address was given as 25 Queensferry Street, Edinburgh in 1914 and 1922; 21 Alva Street, Edinburgh in 1923 and 1939; and Well House, Easter Bellmont Roas, Murrayfield, Edinburgh in 1943 and 1964.

Orphoot was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA.) in 1911, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1927. Orphoot retired in 1952 and died in Edinburgh on 8 April 1964.

_{Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)}