Joseph Reed

Joseph Reed (1823 – 29 April 1890) was an English-born architect in Melbourne, Australia in the Victorian era. Considered the city's greatest, his prolific works include many of the city's most loved buildings and significant heritage listings. He decided to start a new career at the age of 30 in Australia, arriving in Melbourne in 1853, and very soon made a name for himself. The next year he won the design competition for the State Library of Victoria, the Geelong City Hall in 1855, and designed the Bank of New South Wales in Collins Street in 1856.

In 1859, botanist Ferdinand von Mueller described Reedia, a genus of flowering plants from south-western Australia, belonging to the family Cyperaceae, naming it in Reed's honour.

In 1862 he partnered with Frederick Barnes (1824–1884) the firm becoming Reed & Barnes.

Later in life, Reed met and married Hannah Elliot Lane on the 26th March 1885. They had no children.

In 1883 Barnes retired from the partnership and Reed was joined by A. M. Henderson and F. J. Smart becoming Reed Henderson & Smart. In the late 1880s Reed suffered financial difficulties through land speculation, which is said to have affected his health such that he died of 'inanition and exhaustion' on 29 April 1890. Just before then Henderson had withdrawn, and N. B. Tappin joined the firm, becoming Reed Smart & Tappin, the name continuing and after Reed's death. The office later became Bates, Peebles & Smart, then Bates Smart McCutcehon, and then Bates Smart.

Architectural expression

Reed's buildings represent an impressive body of work, in a range of then popular styles, each one a fine essay in the chosen idiom. He could design in Neoclassical, Renaissance Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Baroque, French Second Empire, Romanesque and Queen Anne, and of course as typical for 19th century architects, designs that blended more than one historical style.

Following a visit to Europe in 1863 he experienced first hand the late medieval brick architecture of Lombardy, the source for the bold polychrome brick Gothic Revival already popular in England, which he soon expressed in his designs for the Collins Street Independent Church (1867), St Jude's in Carlton (1866), and Frederick T. Sargood's Rippon Lea Estate at Elsternwick (1868). These works were the first expression of polychrome brick medieval Italian in Victoria, which by the 1880s had gained enormous popularity for all types of buildings.

Major works in classical style include the State Library of Victoria (1856), Bank of New South Wales, Collins St (1856) and Melbourne Trades Hall (1873).The Trades Hall is grandly palatial, the world's oldest and probably most splendid trades hall. In the fashionable Second Empire style Reed also designed Melbourne Town Hall (1870) while the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building, completed for the 1880 International Exposition in Melbourne is Italianate with a Florentine dome. Designs in Gothic mode include the Wesley Church (1857), the Scots' Church (1871–4), across the road from the earlier Romanesque Independent Church, and the grand Wilson Hall at Melbourne University (1882). Sacred Heart Church, St Kilda (1884) was a major essay in the Baroque style, not commonly seen in Melbourne. The mansion Redcourt in Armadale (1888) was another departure, this time in the very new Queen Anne style, introducing features that would become characteristic of most Edwardian houses after 1900.

Reed completed the building of St Paul's Anglican Cathedral as designed by English architect William Butterfield after that architect resigned the project in 1884. Reed was faithful to the original design, but provided most of the furnishings, including the elaborate pulpit, and designed the attached Chapter House in matching style.

Recognition The Victorian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects recognises Reed's contribution to Melbourne and the architecture profession with the annually awarded Joseph Reed Urban Design Award.

List of works

Collins Street Baptist Church (1854) Geelong City Hall (1855) Bank of New South Wales, Collins St (1856) (facade relocated to Melbourne University 1935) Wesley Church (1857) 182-186 George Street, East Melbourne (1857) Royal Society Buildings (1858) 157 Hotham Street, East Melbourne (1861) (attributed) Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (1862), demolished 1956 Beleura House (designed for James Butchart in 1863) - Mornington National Museum, University of Melbourne (1863) Independent Church (1866) Rippon Lea Estate (1868) The Menzies Hotel (1867), demolished 1970 Melbourne Town Hall (1869)

Melbourne Trades Hall (1873) Scots' Church (1873) Bank of Australasia (later ANZ), Collins Street (1876) Faraday Street School, Carlton (1876) Academy of Music, Bourke St East (1876). Renamed Bijou Theatre 1880. Burnt down 1889. Eildon Mansion, St Kilda (1877) Eastern Market (1877) (Reed & Barnes) (demolished c1960) Wilson Hall, Melbourne University (destroyed by fire in 1952) Royal Exhibition Building (1879) Ormond College, Melbourne University (1881) Holy Trinity Church, East St Kilda (1882–1889) Old Pathology Building, Melbourne University (1885) Sacred Heart Church, St Kilda (1884) Appointed supervising architect to St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne (1884-1890) Lombard Building (15-17 Queen Street) (1887) Baldwin Spencer Building, Melbourne University (1887) Old Physics Conference Room and Gallery, Melbourne University (1888) Chapter House, St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne (1889) Redcourt Estate (Armadale) (1888)

Gallery