 The most well-known of his children was his youngest son, John James Burnet (1857–1938), who himself became an influential Modernist architect.In the mid-1850s John Burnet (senior) rose in prominence with his designs for Glasgow buildings such as the Greek temple-style Elgin Place Church, the Clapperton/Middleton warehouse on Miller Street, and Madeira Court on Argyle Street, which was shows influences of the work of Charles Wilson.He won commissions in the 1860s from Glasgow merchants and shipowners, building large baronial houses for them at Auchendennan, Arden, Kildalton and Kilmahew.