W.B. Armson Colonial Architect Rediscovered w. B. Armson A Colonial Architect Rediscovered j:'11j Robert McDougall Art Gallery Christchurch New Zealand 1983 C(l~r iflUS/ration: BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, DUNEDIN, 1879-83 (cat. no's. 19-26). CONTENTS INTRODUCTION pageS ARMSON'S EARLY CAREER: MELBOURNE, DUNEDIN, HOKITIKA 7 Linda Tyler ARMSON IN CHRISTCHURCH Il Robyn Ussher ARMSON AND BANK ARCHITECTURE 17 Anne Crighton ARMSON ANDTHEARCHITECfURAL PROFESSION 21 Connal McCarthy CATALOGUE 25 Sarah Rennie CHECKLIST OF BUILDINGS 29 INTRODUCTION On the nod of February this year a memorial service the Bank of New Zealand, Dunedin, in order to give a was held in the Barbadoes Street Cemetery, Christ­ more complete indication of the way in which the archi· church, to commemorate the one hundredth anniver­ tect conveyed his ideas. sary of the death of William Barnett Armson. When We wish to record our thanks to the many individuals Armson died he was widely regarded as the leading and institutions who helped to make this exhibition architect in New Zealand and his office was executing possible. Without the willing co-operation of Maurice buildings throughout the country from Auckland to Hunt and Graeme Loveridge, who generously placed all Dunedin. Today his name is largely forgotten. many of the Armson material in their possession at our disposal, his major buildings have been demolished and of those we could not have even begun. At the Robert that survive, only a few are recognised as being his McDougall Art Gallery, the Director, John Coley, designs. welcomed the proposal for the exhibition and found a The reasons for the decline in Armson's reputation place for it within a busy exhibition schedule; Lyndsay arc not hard to find. His most imponant works were Knowles undertook the daunting task of preparing the mainly commercial buildings and these have proved par­ drawings for display while Peter Ireland carried Oul the ticularly vulnerable 10 changes in laste as well as to the design and installation of the exhibition. remorseless redevelopment of our city centres. Further~ We also wish to thank Mr Robin Griffin, Bank of more, as a true product of the Victorian age, Armson New Zealand Archivist, Wellington; Mr J. R. Eyles, employed a wide range of historical styles, making it Director; West Coast Historical Museum, Hokitika; even more difficult to readily identify his buildings. Mrs Joan Woodward, Canterbury Museum, Finally, the most productive phase of his career, which Christchurch; Miss H. Spooner, Librarian, Otago Early began in Christchurch in 1870, was cut short by his Settlers' Museum, Dunedin; Archdeacon Bernard untimely death at the age of fifty in 1883. Wilkinson, Oamaru; Mr B. N. Norris, Curator, LY1­ If fate has been unkind to both Armson's reputation telton Museum; Mrs Wendy Garvey, Librarian, School and his buildings, she has nevertheless compensated in of Architecture, University of Auckland; Mrs P. R. other ways. The architectural firm which he founded in Wilson; and Mr Tony Cooper, Christchurch Boys' High Christchurch in 1870 survives today as Collins, Hunt School. Photography for the exhibition was carried out and Loveridge and the office still contains many records by Duncan Shaw-Brown, Merilyn Hooper and Barbara of Armson's activity, including documents, photo~ Cottrell of the University of Canterbury Photographic graphs, his library and most important of all, a large Department. Thanks are also due to Jan Hart, Megan collection of his drawings. The survival of these records, Gainsford and John Emery for assistance with the combined with the remarkably high quality of the draw­ design of the catalogue, and to Judy Boyle, who typed ings provided the initial impetus for this exhibition. The the text. centennial of Armson's death presented the perfect The publication of this catalogue would not have occasion. been possible without the generous financial assistance Research for the exhibition has been undertaken by of the Bank of New Zealand, the Canterbury Branch of five students enrolled in our Art History M.A. course the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the Canterbury on the history of New Zealand architecture. From the Regional Committee of the New Zealand Historic beginning the project was a co-operative venture Places Trust and the Christchurch Civic Trust. although each student took responsibility for one sec­ Finally, it is our sad duty to record our debt to Mr J. tion of the catalogue. Once we began to work on the K. Collins whose history of the firm which Armson exhibition it became immediately apparent that Ihe founded provided the starting point for our own range of Armson's work was more varied and higher in research. When we discussed the exhibition with Mr quality than we had imagined. The task of deciding Collins earlier this year he promised us every assistance whiclfdrawings to include in the exhibition thus became as well as his enthusiastic support. His sudden death much more difficult. Our final selection is based first, prevented him from fulfi]]jng that promise and on the intrinsic interest of the designs and second, on therefore we wish to dedicate this catalogue to his the quality of the drawings, although in virtually all memory. cases these two criteria coincided. We have also aimed to present as many types of drawing as possible within the limited number of works it was possible to exhibit. Ian J. Lochhead Although designs from all phases of Armson's career Jonathan MaliC are included, we have selected a large number of draw­ School of Fine Arts ings for two late works, St. Mary's Church, Timaru and University of Canterbury 5 6 ARMSON'S EARLY CAREER Melbourne, Dunedin, Hokitika. "(William Bameul ArmSOIl was born in London in by Purchas and Swyer. 1834, the soo of Francis William Armson and Jane The earliest of these drawings is a Gothic design for Barnett [Armson.j'" This statement taken from J. K. "A Gold Case." The detailed and highly finished draw­ Collins's A Cenlury of Architecture is virtually all we ing is executed in pencil with coloured washes suggesting know of the architect's early life, education and family that it was designed to impress the judges of a competi­ background. Armson's Death Certificate provides two tion or an important client. This design reflects the more pieces of information: the occupation of his father influence of eighteenth-century Gothic pattern books is listed there as "Architect". and the informant for the such as B. and T. Langley's Gothic Architecture details of Armson's death is "F. W. Martin (Nephew)", Improved, (1747),6 a book which shows Gothic as a implying that Armson had at least one sibling, the dif­ purely ornamental style. This was an antiquated notion ferent surname of the nephew suggesting a sister. by the mid-nineteenth century when the Gothic Revival According to Collins, the Armson family came to architects were integrating the principal tenets of the New Zealand in 1852 but left two years later for Vic­ Gothic style into the very structure of their buildings, loria, Australia, finally settling in Melbourne in 1854. 1 and tells us something of Armson's taste and training. The reason for emigrating from Britain to Australasia is The Gold Case was probably an interior fining for a not given, but if F. W. Armson was indeed an architect, bank, and the other two drawings are elevations of the one can assume that he was in search of greater employ-' Bank of Australasia in Collins Street, Melbourne, the ment opportunities. heart of the city's commercial district. At the age of twenty the young William Armson was The third of Armson's surviving Melbourne drawings articled to the Melbourne architectural and civil is incomplete, but a note in Armson's hand provides an engineering firm of Purchas and Swyer for a period of explanation. It reads: "Unfinished from want of time six years. J Although nothing is known of the family's before sailing of steamer." Was the steamer referred to circumstances, a certain amount of material comfOT( is the "Alcyone" which left Melbourne for Dunedin, New suggested by Armson's apprenticeship, as in Victoria Zealand in mid-March 18621 during the 1850s, rlOO was the standard payment to be Armson is listed as one of the thirteen cabin made by parent or guardian in order for a son to enter passengers on board this steamer when it arrived in into an Indenture of Apprenticeship to the Profession Dunedin on 1st April 1862.' Despite arriving in the of Architecture: and this would have been beyond Ihe country on April Fool's Day, Armson wasted no time in means of many lower income families. In return for advertising his presence by placing a prominent adver­ £100 and a promise of diligence and honest behaviour tisement on the front page of the Otago Daily Times for the firm agreed to instruct the apprentice in his chosen 7th April 1862.' profession. ' Armson's arrival was timely. When Gabriel Read Following the normal procedure of architectural discovered gold in a gully in the Tuapeka in May 1861, training in nineteenth-century Australia, Armson would the news brought hundreds ofprospcctors from all over have acquired civil engineering and surveying as well as the world, but particularly from the gold fields in architectural skills. His engineering training was pro­ Australia which were yielding an ever-decreasing bably received from C. R. Swyer, who later emigrated amount of gold. In 1862, gold was extracted from the to New Zealand where he became Provincial Engineer in Clutha and Wakatipu gold fields. These gold discoveries Otago. (Swyer later designed the Cargill Monument in transformed Dunedin from a small church settlement to Dunedin.) Purchas, no doubt, took care of his archi­ the foremost town in New Zealand.