Joseph Reed (c. 1823–1890), a

Cornishman The Cornish people or Cornish ( kw, Kernowyon, ang, Cornƿīelisċ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons ...

by birth, was a prolific and influential

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

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 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia. He established his practice in 1853, which through various partnerships and name changes, continues today as

Bates Smart Bates Smart is an architectural firm with studios in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1853 by Joseph Reed, it is known as one of Australia's oldest architectural firms. Over the decades, the firm's multidisciplinary practices invo ...

, one of the oldest firms continually operating in Australia.

Biography

Born in 1823 in

Cornwall, England Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, Joseph Reed's early career may have included some local training, and he is known to have worked in the offices of some noted architects in London. 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 A design competition or design contest is a competition in which an entity solicits design proposals from the public for a specified purpose. Architecture An architectural design competition solicits architects to submit design proposals for a b ...

for the

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

, the Geelong Town Hall in 1855, and designed the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and N ...

in Collins Street in 1856. In 1859, botanist

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vic ...

published '' Reedia'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s from south-western Australia, belonging to the family

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

and was named in Joseph Reed's honour. In 1862 he partnered with Frederick Barnes (1824-1884). In 1883 Barnes retired from the partnership and Reed was joined by A. M. Henderson and F. J. Smart. In 1890 Henderson withdrew while N. B. Tappin joined the firm, and Reed himself died. The office later became Bates, Peebles & Smart. Later in life, Reed met and married Hannah Elliot Lane on the 26 March 1885. They had no children. In the late 1880s Reed had come into 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.

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 Independent Church on Collins Street, St Jude's in Carlton, and Frederick T. Sargood's

Rippon Lea Estate Rippon Lea Estate is a heritage-listed historic house and gardens located in Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the care of the National Trust of Australia. It was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 11 August ...

at Elsternwick. These works were the first expression of polychrome brick medieval Italian in Victoria, which by the 1880s had gained enormous popularity. Major works include the classical

(1856), Collins Street Independent Church (1867), Frederick Sargood's

(1868) and

Melbourne Trades Hall Victorian Trades Hall is the headquarters of the Victorian Trades Hall Council. It is located on the corner of Lygon Street and Victoria Street, just north of the Melbourne central business district, in the suburb of Carlton, Melbourne, Vi ...

(1873). In contrast to the polychrome Romanesque of Rippon Lea and the Independent Church is the stern Gothic manner of Scots' Church (1871-4) across the road; the energetic spire was for the last decades of the nineteenth century Melbourne's tallest structure. 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 Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection betwe ...

(1870) while the

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

-listed

Royal Exhibition Building The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage-listed building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, built in 1879–1880 as part of the international exhibition movement, which presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851 and 1915 around the gl ...

, completed for the 1880 International Exposition in Melbourne is Italianate with a Florentine dome. Reed completed the building of

St Paul's Anglican Cathedral St Paul's Pro-Cathedral ( Malti: ''Il-Pro-Katridral ta' San Pawl''), officially The Pro-Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Saint Paul, is an Anglican pro-cathedral of the Diocese in Europe situated in Independence Square, Valletta, Malta. A "pr ...

to the designs of

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

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 the attached Chapter House in matching style.

List of works

(designed 1854, built in many stages) *

Collins Street Baptist Church Collins Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in central Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with the Joseph Reed, the architect who designed the Gothic or Romanesque, Collins Street Baptist is in the form of a classical temp ...

(1854) * Geelong Town Hall (1855) *

, Collins St (1856) (facade relocated to Melbourne University 1935) *

Wesley Church Wesley Church may refer to: * Wesley Church, Melbourne, Australia, a Uniting Church *Wesley Church, Perth, Australia, a Uniting Church * Wesley Church, Albany, Australia, a Uniting Church * Wesley Church, Seremban, Malaysia *Wesley Church, Egmore, ...

(1857) * 182-186 George Street,

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

(1857) *

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

Buildings (1858) * 157 Hotham Street,

(1861) (attributed) * Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (1862), demolished 1956 * Beleura House (designed for James Butchart in 1863) - Mornington *

Independent Church Independent church may refer to: * A self-governed church * National church, especially in Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Orthodox Christianity, the organisation of that denomination within a given nation, which acts independently of the churches of ...

(1866) * The Menzies Hotel (1867), demolished 1970 *

(1868) *

(1869) * Carlton Methodist Mission, now Church of All Nations, Palmerston St, Carlton (1870) *

(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 Eildon is a Renaissance Revival style mansion in Grey Street, St Kilda, Melbourne, the largest house in the suburb, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultura ...

, St Kilda (1877) * Eastern Market (1877) (Reed & Barnes) (demolished c1960) * Wilson Hall,

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

(destroyed by fire in 1952) *

(1879) *

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

, 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 St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Archbishop of Melbour ...

(1884-1890) *

Lombard Building The Lombard Building is a Victorian era building built between 1889 and 1890, within the Melbourne CBD in Victoria, Australia. It was designed by the architectural practice of Reed, Henderson & Smart (1883–1890), now known as Bates Smart. T ...

(15-17 Queen Street) (1887) * Baldwin Spencer Building, Melbourne University (1887) *

Old Physics Conference Room and Gallery The Old Physics Conference Room and Gallery is a university teaching and art gallery located at 156-292 Grattan Street, The University of Melbourne, Campus, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia. Built between 1886 and 1889, t ...

, Melbourne University (1888) * Chapter House,

(1889) * Redcourt Estate (Armadale) (1888)

Gallery

File:Vic State Library Facade Pano,19.07.06 edit1.jpg, State Library of Victoria. Swanston Street, Melbourne File:concrete lawn.jpg, Former Bank of New South Wales. Transplanted from Collins Street to the University of Melbourne Union Lawn File:Collins Street Baptist Church Melbourne.jpg, Collins Street Baptist Church File:City Hall, Geelong-Victoria-Australia, 2007.jpg, Geelong Town Hall File:Melbourne Trades Hall entrance.jpg, Melbourne Trades Hall, Carlton File:Scots Church Collins Street Melbourne.jpg, The Scots' Church. Collins Street, Melbourne. File:157 Hotham Street East Melbourne.jpg, 157 Hotham Street, East Melbourne. File:Rippon Lea Estate, Victoria.jpg, Rippon Lea Estate. Elsternwick, Victoria. File:Melbourne Town Hall-Collins Street.JPG, Melbourne Town Hall, Collins Street File:royal_exhibition_building_tulips_straight.jpg, The Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton File:ac.stpauls1.jpg, St Paul's Cathedral, Flinders Street File:Wesleychurch.JPG, Wesley Church, Melbourne File:Eildon Mansion, Grey Street, Melbourne - 2.jpeg, Eildon Mansion File:Ormond College Clock Tower.JPG, Ormond College Clock Tower, University of Melbourne File:Holy trinity church st kilda.jpg, Holy Trinity Church, St Kilda File:Sacred heart church st kilda.jpg, Sacred Heart Church, St Kilda File:Lombard house queen street melbourne.jpg, Lombard Building File:RedCourt-Exterior-01.jpg, Redcourt Estate, Armadale

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Joseph 1823 births 1890 deaths Architects from Melbourne Year of birth uncertain Australian people of Cornish descent British emigrants to colonial Australia