Maxwell Bury
Maxwell Bury (28 July 1825 – 9 September 1912) was an English-born architect who was active in New Zealand in the 19th century. He is best remembered for his buildings for the University of Otago.
Life
Born in Nottinghamshire on 28 July 1825, Bury was the son of an Anglican clergyman and spent part of his youth in Cambridgeshire.[1] He trained as an engineer near Derby and is thought to have been familiar with Aston Hall near Birmingham which has been seen as the inspiration of some of his New Zealand work, notably the Nelson Provincial Government Buildings.[2] He also served as an engineer in the merchant marine.
He married Eleanor Sarah Deighton on 11 August 1853 at Ellesmere in Shropshire and in 1854 sailed with her to Australia in the Zingari a steam-assisted ship he had had a hand in building. After a brief time in Melbourne the ship and the couple arrived at Nelson in New Zealand on 12 December 1854.
Bury got a contract to provide a postal service between Nelson and Wellington using the Zingari while his wife ran a school in Nelson. He offered his services as an engineer and a land agent, played a role in public life and was involved in
There he designed the Torlesse building in Cathedral Square, an orphanage at Addington and the church of St John the Baptist in Latimer Square, the latter in early 1864, as well as some private houses. He went into partnership with Benjamin Mountfort in 1864, designing St Mark’s in Opawa, St James’ in Cust, St Joseph’s in Lyttelton, and an extension to Chippenham Lodge in St Albans[4] with him before leaving with his family for England in March 1866. Bury returned, but when he did it seems he was alone.
He resumed his architectural career in Nelson in 1870 and in 1877 designed the Chapel of the Holy Evangelists on the hill at Bishopdale. He won the competition to design buildings for the University of Otago in Dunedin and soon moved there. He did other work in Dunedin, including commercial premises for Smith & Smith in The Octagon, but returned to Christchurch.[5] In 1883 Bury had more work from the University of Otago and, it seems, was in Dunedin again. About the middle of 1885 he moved back to Nelson.
After 1890 he went to Sydney, returned to England in 1908 and died there at Ledbury, Herefordshire on 9 September 1912.
Buildings
Time has not been kind to some of Bury's work. His Nelson Provincial Government Building was an ambitious structure for New Zealand in the 1850s. It was in the
Sources
- Knight, H. & Wales, N., Buildings of Dunedin. John McIndoe Limited, Dunedin, 1988.
- Marchant, Anne. "Bury, Maxwell 1825 - 1912". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
- O'Brien, Rebecca (2003). "Former Provincial Buildings Fire Engine House". New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
- Otago Daily Times, Dunedin 1861- [ODT].
- Stacpoole, John, Colonial Architecture in New Zealand, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, Sydney, London, 1976. ISBN 0-589-00930-3.
References
- ^ Except where otherwise stated the source of biographical information is Marchant, 1993.
- ^ Stacpoole, 1976 p.71 acknowledges this while slightly discounting it.
- ^ O'Brien, 2003.
- ^ "Chippenham Lodge". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ^ ODT 15/1/1878 p.3f Bury advertised for tenders for the Smith & Smith building. Knight & Wales, 1988, p.91 say his name appears on an 1882 electoral roll with an address in Gloucester Street, Christchurch.
- ^ His Prince Alfred Hotel on Great King Street, Dunedin is demolished. His Smith & Smith building in the Octagon survives as the Ra Bar but its façade is obscured behind a modern front.
- ^ Stacpoole, 1976, pp.155 & 157.