John Smith Murdoch
John Smith Murdoch (29 September 1862 – 21 May 1945) was the chief architect for the Commonwealth of Australia from 1919, responsible for designing many government buildings, most notably the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra, the home of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988.
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[edit] Personal life
John Smith Murdoch was born in Cassieford, Elgin County, Scotland.
Murdoch was reclusive, he never married, and there are only 4 known photographs of him. He was typically dour and frugal.
He died in Brighton, Melbourne.
[edit] Professional Life in Australia
Murdoch trained with major engineering firms in the United Kingdom before moving to Australia in 1884.
Murdoch was a member of the Masonic order and it is claimed that he incorporated many masonic motifs into his designs.[1]
[edit] Queensland
In Queensland his notable works included:
- the South Brisbane Town Hall in 1890[2]
- Roma Courthouse, Roma, Queensland (1900–1901)[3]
- ANZAC Square, Brisbane
- the Customs House in Mackay, Queensland
[edit] Victoria
In Melbourne, his notable works included:
- the Commonwealth Offices in Treasury Place (1912)
- the former Mail Exchange on Bourke Street (1913)
- the former High Court in Little Bourke Street (1926).
[edit] Western Australia
In Western Australia his notable works included:
- the Commonwealth Bank and General Post Office buildings (1923) in Forrest Place, Perth
[edit] Canberra
John Smith Murdoch persuaded Walter Burley Griffin to come to Australia from the USA, and who went to Sydney to greet him on his arrival in 1913. Later, however, he had a difficult relationship with Griffin.[4]
John Smith Murdoch designed the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra. However, he had no enthusiasm for the project, saying expenditure on it could not be justified at the time; and he thought the whole idea was a waste of money.[5]
In addition, John Smith Murdoch designed many of Canberra's first public buildings, such as:
- Kingston Power Station (1913–1915). This was decommissioned in the early 1960s, and reopened on 25 May 2007 as Canberra Glassworks, a glass artist studio.[6]
- the Hotel Canberra (1924) - now the Hyatt Hotel
- the Hotel Kurrajong (1926)
- Secretariat Buildings No. 1 and 2 (1927) - now East and West Blocks
- Gorman House
- Ainslie Public School
- several residential hotels necessary for public servants and politicians.
[edit] New South Wales
- 12 bungalows built in 1915 for staff of the Royal Australian Navy College, HMAS Creswell, at Jervis Bay, New South Wales. These now have heritage-listing, and were refurbished in 2006-7.[7]
[edit] Gallery of work
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Old Parliament House, Canberra
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East Block, Canberra
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Hotel Canberra
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Former mail exchange, Melbourne
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GPO, Forrest Place, Perth
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Commonwealth Bank Building, Forrest Place, Perth
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South Brisbane Town Hall
[edit] References
- ^ John Smith Murdoch, Brisbane, a Wooden Leg, Symbolic Signs, and the OPH Building, Denis Strangman, accessed 31 May 2007
- ^ "SOUTH BRISBANE MUNICIPAL BUILDING.". The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) (Qld.: National Library of Australia): p. 7. 6 June 1892. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3542993. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
- ^ "Roma Court House and Police Buildings (entry CHIMS16048)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/chims/placeDetail.html?siteId=16048. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Max Bourke, Old house rules, "Canberra 1900-2000" (supplement to the Canberra Times), 19 March 2000
- ^ Robert Messenger, "Mythical thing" to an iced reality, in "Old Parliament House: 75 Years of History", supplement to the Canberra Times, 4 May 2002.
- ^ Transformer: Canberra Glassworks; Construction Tour and Program Launch (media release), accessed 31 May 2007
- ^ Creswell's heritage houses restored, p6 Navy News Vol.50 No.9, 31 May 2007
