Architects by Name

Architectural Snippets

First Australian Church
The first church in Australia was built of primitive materials in just eight weeks by Reverend Richard Johnson. He was the Church of England chaplain to the colony at Sydney and paid for the work himself.

Architect Alberto Dias Soares
Born in London to the commercial Consul for Portugal and his artistic English wife and educated at London University School, he was a trained artist (Academia das Belles Artes, Oporto, 1847 and in Paris) and engineer (Putney College, London, 1849). After emigrating in 1852 he gained architectural experience with Edmund Blacket in Sydney. Soares married Catherine Tom Lane of Orton Park, Bathurst in 1857 and, immediately after being ordained in May, was appointed parish priest at Queanbeyan. He began building Christ Church of England there in 1859 to his own design. In all, Rev’d Canon Soares designed at least 15 churches, several church halls and schools. He designed 7 parsonages, notably for Queanbeyan (1872) and Canberra (1873), later known as Glebe House, demolished in 1954.

Augustus Pugin
In 1831, at the age of 19, Pugin married the first of his three wives, Anne Garnet. She died a few months later in childbirth, leaving him a daughter. He had a further six children, including the future architect Edward Welby Pugin.

Architect Alexander Ian Ferrier
Born 5 September 1928 in New York, Alexander Ian Ferrier immigrated to Australia in 1953 and began working for Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards in Brisbane in 1955. He founded his own practice in 1957, which eventually became known as Ferrier Baudet when his daughter and son-in-law joined him. Ferrier was best known for his churches, schools, and convents throughout Queensland. He died in 2000. A Brisbane-based architect, he designed approximately thirty ecclesiastical buildings across Queensland in the latter half of the twentieth century.