Architectural drawing for building on George and Market Streets, Sydney, showing elevations and floor plans, [188-?] / by Thomas Rowe

V/345

fonds

[188-?]

9637147

1 architectural drawing - ink on linen

Thomas Rowe (1829-1899), architect, was born in July 1829 in Cornwall, immigrating to Sydney with his family in 1848. Between 1857 and 1895 he practised as an architect in Sydney with W. B. Field, Sydney Green, and Alfred Spain as successive partners. Rowe's practice, mainly in Bathurst, Orange, Newcastle, Goulburn and Sydney, was one of the biggest in New South Wales. It was said in 1890 that one could walk Pitt Street and always be opposite one of his buildings. Often successful in competitions he built commercial premises, large houses and churches, mainly Methodist. Among his best known buildings are the Presbyterian Church, Bathurst (1871), the Jewish Synagogue in Elizabeth Street, Sydney (1874), Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street (1879, completed by John Kirkpatrick after 1891), Newington College, Stanmore (1878), Sydney Arcade and Vickery's Building, Pitt Street, Sydney (1874) and warehouses for Hoffnung & Co. in Charlotte Street, Brisbane (1879) and Pitt Street, Sydney (1881). At the peak of his career in 1890 Rowe was reputedly worth £70,000 with an income of £14,000. He lost nearly all of his fortune in the 1893 depression with the collapse of a syndicate, formed to build a natatorium in Pitt Street. Virtually penniless, he died of cancer on 14 January 1899 at his home 'Mona' in Darling Point.

References:
Rowe, Thomas (1829–1899) by J. M. Freeland. Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rowe-thomas-4517 (accessed 5 April 2019)

Architectural drawing for a three-storey commercial building on the corner of George and Market Streets, by Thomas Rowe, architect, Sydney. Includes drawings of elevation to George Street and elevation to Market Street, and drawings showing floor plan for the ground floor of shops, and first and second floor of store rooms. Scale: 8 feet to an inch.

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales