Andrew Oswald Wilson (1866–1950), known professionally as A. Oswald Wilson,
was an early-20th-century
Western Australian
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
.
Born and trained as a carpenter in Victoria, he moved first to Perth and then to the
Eastern Goldfields
The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth.
Extent and name origin
The region encompasses the to ...
(in December 1899
), where he worked for
Murdock McKay Hopkins.
He was president of the ''Mechanics' Literary and Debating Society'' (also known as the ''Boulder Literary Society'') in
Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In ...
from 1904 to 1908,
as well as active in the ''Boulder Benevolent Society''. One of his best-known buildings is the Boulder town hall for which he submitted designs in 1907. In December 1908
he moved back to Perth and practised from Forrest Chambers (at 62 St George's Terrace).
On 17 December 1910, aged 44, he married May Livingstone in Perth,
and in 1917 they left Australia for England, where Wilson enlisted in the Army.
Wilson died on 19 June 1950 at St Andrew's Hospital in Melbourne.
He was 83.
Buildings
''In chronological order.''
Perth:
* 1899: West Perth Tennis Club (tennis courts at rear of West Perth Presbyterian Church)
Boulder (where he was "responsible for most of the more prominent buildings about the Boulder"
):
* St Matthew's Rectory and Church
* Woman's Christian Temperance Union Girls' Home
* Dr Frank Sawell's residence and surgery (121 Piesse Street)
* 1908: Boulder Town Hall
Perth:
* 1909: George R. Brown's residence (The Avenue,
Nedlands)
* 1913: West Perth Presbyterian Church Hall (cnr.
Hay and Colin Streets; precursor to the
Ross Memorial Church)
* 1914: ''Dunollie'', his own residence (36 Congdon St,
Swanbourne)
Boulder Town Hall, Western Australia.jpg , 1908: Boulder Town Hall
Church hall, cnr of Hay and Colin streets, Perth, 1913.png , 1913: West Perth Presbyterian Church Hall
See also
*
Edwin Summerhayes
References
External links
*
Architects from Perth, Western Australia
1866 births
1950 deaths
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