[Editor: This article, by James Nagle, was published in Architecture (Sydney, NSW), 1 December 1930.]
Evolution of Australian architecture
Mid-day lecture delivered at the Institute of Architects’ Annual Exhibition
By Mr. James Nangle O.B.E., F.R.A.S.
The evolution of Australian Architecture during the last fifty years can be well illustrated by what has taken place in the City of Sydney during the period. Sydney entered on the last half-century with two very distinct legacies — one of distinctly bad character, and one quite good. Even to-day there remain some of the old Georgian buildings, and everyone is familiar with the beautiful “Macquarie” Churches.
The extraordinarily fine examples of the work of Edmund Blackett were available for education and inspiration, and Waddell had already commenced his magnum opus, in the form of St. Mary’s Cathedral. There were also very many fine examples of magnificent buildings in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The old Bank of New Zealand, the Commercial Bank of Sydney, the Congregational Church, in Pitt Street, the old Treasury and the General Post Office were splendid examples of the Italian Renaissance.
With examples on every hand of good Georgian work, some of the best Pointed styles, and plenty of good work in the Italian manner, architects had inspiration of a kind that should have enabled them to develop on very satisfactory lines.
The legacy of a bad character was, however, sufficiently powerful to have a very restraining and adverse effect. The discovery of gold, and the extraordinarily rapid increase in population, largely composed of a very rough type, brought about very rapid degeneration in domestic and commercial Architecture.
The use of cement stucco in all architectural styles, coupled with the use of ornamental cast iron, had degraded architecture to a very low level. This influence, together with the almost entire absence of any facilities in architectural education, greatly handicapped practitioners, who had to face the architectural problems of the period commencing about fifty years ago.
It is significant that just fifty years ago there was commenced in Sydney the first class in the teaching of Architecture, and that this synchronises with the beginning of better things in Architecture. It must be noted that there were some remarkable personalities who considerably helped. We had with us, of course, Waddell, the Gothic Architect, and James Barnet, then Government Architect, whose love of Italian work had enabled him to design the great public offices of the Works and Lands Departments and the General Post Office. There was also Horbury Hunt, a genius in the use of brick in Architecture. Men of this kind were the link between the better period of the early days and the period that was to come. They helped to bridge the period of degradation.
We were fortunate, also, in that there arrived, about this time, some well-trained English architects, who immediately set to work towards the improvement of the standard. These were W. L. Vernon, F. C. Coward, Howard Joseland and John Sulman. There also came here two very distinguished American architects — E. Raht and Jefferson Jackson. The earliest designs of the new arrivals exerted a powerful influence that has had its effect until the present.
Within the fifty years we have seen the building of St. Mary’s Cathedral, the Registrar-General’s Office, and the Medical School at the University. Within the period throughout the country there have been some very fine examples of the smaller type of Public Building, notably, the Post Office at Parramatta, carried out by Vernon.
A very extraordinary development has taken place in the Commercial Architecture of the City. The introduction of new materials, such as steel and reinforced concrete, has revolutionized our Commercial Architecture.
Possibly the greatest improvement has taken place in Domestic Architecture. Thirty or forty years ago our homes were very poorly planned, and ornamented in a very tawdry manner. It was probably in the Domestic Architecture that cheap stucco and abominable cast iron ornament found their most profuse use. All that has been changed, very much for the better. In a drive round some of the suburbs, particularly through Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill, and in the suburbs north of the harbour, are to be seen some very beautiful homes.
A very remarkable development has also taken place in the buildings devoted to education. Fifty years ago our schools appeared to be the last places in which children could be safely housed and properly taught. To-day we have some of the finest school buildings in the world.
The Exhibition of Architectural Designs, embracing the work of the last fifty years, is a fine epitome of what has been accomplished. Particularly noticeable is the remarkable increase in the powers of delineation. The older drawings merely outlined the forms. In the drawings of to-day the architect displays considerable artistic capacity. Draftsmanship in itself does not provide a good architectural design, but artistic capacity in preparing drawings is reflected in the architecture itself, so that the effect of the drawings to-day is an indication of greater artistic training, and that is an influence towards better architecture.
Source:
Architecture [Journal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects] (Sydney, NSW), 1 December 1930, p. 573
James Nangle = James Nangle (1868-1941), architect and teacher; he was born in Newtown (Sydney, NSW) in 1868, and died in Sydney (NSW) in 1941
See: 1) Joan E. Cobb, “James Nangle (1868–1941)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Nangle, James (1868 – 1941)”, The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation [Swinburne University of Technology]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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