Joseph Clarkson Maddison (26 February 1850 – 11 December 1923) was a New Zealand architect. He trained as an architect in his native London and came to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

at the age of 22. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, he was one of the most prominent architects in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, receiving commissions from all over the country. Until the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

, 13 of his buildings were listed by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

on their register, with three of those Category I listings, but many of the Christchurch buildings have been demolished since. His style was plain and utilitarian, and he specialised in the classical Italian mode.

Early life

Maddison was born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

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, England in 1850. His parents were the beer merchant John Maddison and Matilda Clarkson. He attended private schools.

Career

From age 17, Maddison studied in England under architect George Morris and at the

National Art Training School The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

. He apparently emigrated to

, New Zealand in 1872 on the ''Charlotte Gladstone'' (the source calls the ship the ''Gladstone'', but only a ''Charlotte Gladstone'' came to Lyttelton) but his name does not appear on the shipping list. He initially had an office in Cashel Street, but from 1878 to 1916 worked from an office in Hereford Street approximately opposite Liverpool Lane. He won two major competitions with his designs, including taking both first and second place in a competition to design Christchurch Town Hall in 1879. This success led to commissions from a variety of clients throughout the 1880s. During the 1890s, he worked primarily on the design of

freezing works In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

and

abattoir In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

s. In 1887, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

. In the early twentieth century, having established a national reputation for his work, Maddison designed the Christchurch Government Building, the

Clarendon Hotel The Clarendon Hotel, or Clarendon House (), is a high-end hotel in the historic neighbourhood of Old Quebec in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the city. The original building, on the corner of Rue S ...

and the temporary exhibition buildings for the 1906 International Exhibition. The exhibition building was constructed in Christchurch's Hagley Park and had massive dimensions: the frontage measured 399 m, it was 113 m deep and the two towers were 49 m tall. The building, erected at a cost of £54,000, was removed again after the International Exhibition finished. The Government Building in Cathedral Square, which exemplify Maddison's restrained and pragmatic style, is modelled on Italian

palazzo A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

architecture.Hodgeson, Terrance; ''Looking at the architecture of New Zealand'' Grantham House, 1990, p37 Parliament Buildings competition entry

Maddison entered the competition for the new Parliament Buildings in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, after the original building burned down in 1907. The competition received 33 entries, and Maddison's entry did not get amongst the first nine. Government architect John Campbell's entries won first and fourth prize, and the building that was constructed combines elements of those two designs. Due to his preference for functionality over ornament, Maddison designed only two churches in his career, St Paul's Church at Port Levy and Holy Innocents' Church at Amberley, in 1888 and 1890 respectively.

NZHPT and Christchurch earthquake

A remarkable number of Maddison's designs are (or were) recognised by

(NZHPT) as notable heritage buildings. Many of the Christchurch buildings were damaged in the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercal ...

and after further deterioration in the

, at least half of them were demolished. The following buildings in the Christchurch area are or were listed by the NZHPT: The following buildings outside of Christchurch are listed by the NZHPT:

Style

Maddison was known for his plain and utilitarian style, which suited the industrial design field in which he preferred to work. He tended to specialise in the classical Italian mode, rarely expanding into other, more baroque areas of architecture. He made forays into domestic

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

architecture with the Nurses' Home at Christchurch Hospital and the Zetland Arms Hotel, but these buildings were not as well-received as his usual work.

Personal life

Maddison married Jane Midmore, the daughter of a surveyor, in 1873. They had three daughters together. For the last few years of his life, Maddison lived with one of his daughters in Napier. His wife Jane died in 1920. He died on 11 December 1923 at Napier at age 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maddison, Joseph 1850 births 1923 deaths New Zealand architects Architects from Christchurch English emigrants to New Zealand