of Tait's moonlighting in 1914, the two fell out. Tait suddenly left London for New York, leaving his wife and son Gordon at home, to work as an assistant with Donn Barber. Tait soon returned to London and took a job as chief draughtsman to Trehearne & Norman on further Kingsway buildings. Between 1915 and 1918, Tait and Burnet became reconciled and collaborated on a number of projects, culminating in Tait's return to Burnet's practice in 1918 as a partner. The firm was renamed Sir John Burnet & Partners. Due to ill health, Burnet himself grew less active in the partnership, and Tait's role increased. In 1925 Tait was made a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Tait's growing reputation resulted in many new commissions both in the UK and internationally, including work in London, South Africa, Australia and Egypt. In 1927-8 he was employed by the Crittall window factory to build their works village Silver End in Essex in the Art Deco style. In 1930, another Scottish architect, Francis Lorne became a partner in the firm, and under the name Sir John Burnet, Tait and Lorne, the practice became one of the most influential architects' firms in Britain. Tait and Lorne began to pursue a more Modernist architectural direction, and their work on the Royal Masonic Hospital at Ravenscourt (1930-3) won the RIBA Gold Medal for the best building of 1933. While the commissions slowed down during economic downturn of the early 1930s, they used the available time to publish a highly influential book, The Information Book of Sir John Burnet, Tait & Lorne (1933). In 1936 Sir Cecil M Weir, convenor of the Scottish Development Council, appointed him Chief Architect of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938, selecting Bellahouston Park in Glasgow as the site, conceiving the master-plan and designing most of its 100 buildings assisted by a panel of young architects chosen by him. It attracted 12.8 million visitors. Later years The outbreak of the Second World War cut Tait's career prematurely short. St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, (built for the former Scottish Office and from 1999 the headquarters of the Scottish Government) was completed shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, leaving much of the proposed interior decoration incomplete. From 1940 to 1942 he worked as Director of Standardisation at the Ministry of Works. He retired from the partnership in 1952, and the practice