Eric Fergus Heath (1894 – 23 September 1952) was an Australian architect active in the second quarter of the 20th century. His work encompassed the numerous
Australian architectural styles of the inter-war period and he was considered to be one of the finest draftsmen of his day.
Family
Heath was born in
Junee, New South Wales, to Edward and Euphemia (Effie) Heath. His brother Clive Patterson Heath (1895–1963), also an architect, was born the following year. Clive married Edna Jean Pritchard (1902–1968) in 1926. She graduated as a Bachelor of Architecture in 1924 and Clive graduated in 1925 and they lived in
Manly, New South Wales
Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...
. Clive and Edna lived and worked in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, Queensland in the late 1930s and early 1940s as architects, and then returned to Sydney.
Early life
Eric Heath attended
Newington College as a boarding student commencing in 1907. Heath was
articled
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
in architecture and studied at
Sydney Technical College
The Sydney Technical College, now known as the TAFE New South Wales Sydney Institute, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education i ...
. In 1924 he married Edna Castle Graham and commenced private practice in 1926. An ''Ideal Cottage'' competition was arranged in 1926 by the organisers of the Ideal Homes Exhibition, and the adjudicators were Sir
Charles Rosenthal, Alexander Speers, Dr Richard Arthur and
Florence Taylor. Heath won the second prize of £50.
Plaza Theatre
In 1930, Heath designed the
Plaza Theatre (Sydney)
The former Plaza Theatre in Sydney, New South Wales is a heritage-listed building designed as a 2000-seat cinema by Eric Heath for the Hoyts Group, and opened in 1930. It is no longer used as a cinema.
Location
The building is located at 600 Ge ...
, a now heritage listed building designed as a 2000-seat cinema for the
Hoyts Group. Today it is rare surviving example of central Sydney's inter-war building boom in theatre buildings. It is one of only three surviving theatre buildings in the city.
Laurie and Heath
In 1932, Heath joined William Rae Laurie in a partnership known as Laurie & Heath. By 1936 the firm were designing houses in
Turramurra,
Killara
Killara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Killara is a separate suburb and ...
,
Wahroonga
Wahroonga is a suburb in the North Shore (Sydney)#Upper North Shore, Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia ...
,
Pymble
Pymble is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pymble is north of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council.
West Pymble is a separate suburb ...
,
Gordon,
Camden
Camden may refer to:
People
* Camden (surname), a surname of English origin
* Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer
* Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor
Places Australia
* Camden, New South Wales
* Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...
and
Bathurst. In 1936 he designed Andover, 51 Warrangi Street Turramurra, a significant
Georgian Revival house.
KMC Minutes 14 July 1915
/ref> In 1937 the partners designed Grazcos House, an office building, in Young Street, Sydney. Two years later the firm designed a classroom block for Abbotsleigh, a girls school in Wahroonga. Heath and Laurie remained partners until the beginning of World War II when Heath enlisted.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Eric
1894 births
1952 deaths
Architects from Sydney
New South Wales architects
People from Junee
People educated at Newington College