John Lee Archer (1791-1852)
Civil
Engineer and Colonial Architect to Van Diemen’s Land
from 1827 to 1838. Archer was born in Dublin
and trained in London. He worked in London
and in Ireland
for 13 years before sailing to Van Diemen’s Land to take up
his appointment.
During nine of his eleven years as Civil Engineer and Colonial Architect, Archer was
responsible for all Government buildings. He designed many of the major buildings
in Hobart, including
Parliament House, Anglesea Barracks and the Ordnance Stores in Salamanca Place. His
best-known engineering work is the Ross
Bridge.
At that period the Government sponsored the building of churches, and Archer designed a number of these also, the best-known
being ‘Old Trinity’ or the Penitentiary Chapel in Brisbane Street, Hobart and St John’s Church, New Town,
flanked by the Orphan Schools.
Archer seems to have preferred the neo-classical style in church design. Perhaps he was influenced by the 18th and early 19th century London
churches among which he had worked as trainee and architect. The nave of St
George’s is a simple rectangular structure, the walls being broken into bays externally by flat
pilasters. The tall, tapered windows are divided into small rectangular panes
and capped with a shallow pediment. These features were to be seen in the Independent
Chapel in Tamar Street, Launceston, which Archer inspected and reported
on in February 1837.
James Blackburn (1803-53)
Born in England, Blackburn
was transported to Van Diemen’s Land for forgery in 1833 and was employed in the Department of
Roads and Bridges until pardoned in 1841. After this, he was in private practice
as an architect and engineer in Hobart from 1841 to 1849, when he moved to Melbourne. He later became Melbourne's city surveyor.
Blackburn designed the tower and the porch
of St George’s in February 1841, in the Greek Revival style. The design is said to have been based on that of St Pancras’ Church, London
(1819-22). The design of the tower is inspired by the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It is interesting to note that Blackburn had already designed
St Mark’s, Pontville, in the Romanesque revival style (1839) and was in the process of designing Holy Trinity, North
Hobart in the Gothic revival style (1841-1847).
