William Wardell: Building with Conviction
A.G. Evans
Now Available
ISBN 9781921421433 (paperback)
Paperback, 314 pages
Over 60 Black and White Photo's
Paperback $39.95
Hardback $49.95
Born into lowly circumstances in London’s East End in
1823 WILLIAM WILKINSON WARDELL became one of Australia’s greatest
architects whose crowning works are his two cathedrals, St Mary’s in Sydney and
St Patrick’s in Melbourne. As well as
being a leading exponent of Gothic Revival architecture of the 19th
century, he served for a period as Chief Architect in the Victorian Public
Works Department where he stamped his character and his high standards on many
of Melbourne’s best-loved public buildings including his own design, Government
House.
Wardell
was a contemporary and devoted admirer of Pugin. Both were converts to the
Catholic Faith and both shared a deep religious conviction in the superiority
of Gothic architecture for church building.
As a
young architect he enjoyed the friendship and intimacy of Charles Dickens and
other prominent writers, artists, and actors, but he feared for his health in
1858 due to the wretched climatic conditions that claimed the lives of
thousands of Londoners at that time. To
the sorrow of his friends Wardell chose to sail with his family for Melbourne,
lured by the climate and the urgent need for new churches for the burgeoning
population.
During his
early years in Australia Wardell suffered sectarian animosity and jealousy
among members of his profession. Forced
unfairly to leave Victoria in 1878 he was welcomed in Sydney where he was
honoured and revered as a leader of his profession. At his death aged 76 a newspaper stated: ‘He closed his life of
noble labours, a life crowded with artistic triumphs in a manner in keeping
with the modest gentleness of his whole career.’
In this
first major biography of Wardell, Evans reveals for the first time his early
life and influences at home in a Workhouse, his apprenticeship at sea, and his
work in England and Scotland where he was responsible for over twenty much
admired churches, schools, and private houses.
His
architectural legacy in Australia is rich and varied but it is for his two
monumental cathedrals that he is best remembered. He lavished much of his time,
his love and his exacting standards on each of them simultaneously so that now
they are emblematic of their cities and judged by architectural historians as
among the finest examples of the Gothic style anywhere in the world.
‘This is a book which stirs the imagination and emotions. It repays more than one reading.’ Elizabeth Jolley
‘Writing with real literary flair and lively authorial imagination,
[Evans] has produced the best biography we are ever likely to have.’ New England Quarterly.
A. G. EVANS was a producer with the ABC for many
years, working as a presenter, reporter writer and producer for television and
radio. In 1989 he
left the ABC to concentrate on freelance writing. His first published book, The Conscious Stone, a biography
of the priest-architect, John Cyril Hawes, won the Western Australian Premier’s
Literary Award for non-fiction in 1985. Later books included Fanatic Heart, the biography of John Boyle
O’Reilly, short-listed for the National Biography Prize; and C .Y. O’Connor,
His Life and Legacy, published in 2001. Evans lives in Western Australia.
This product was added to our catalog on Friday 04 June, 2010.
