John Horbury Hunt

John Horbury Hunt (1838-1904) was a Canadian-born architect who worked in Sydney, Australia and rural New South Wales from 1863.

Life and career

Hunt was trained in Boston, Massachusetts but then migrated to Australia and pursued a successful practice in Sydney. His output was extremely varied and included cathedrals, churches, chapels, houses, homesteads, stables and schools. His works include the Convent of the Sacred Heart, now Kincoppal-Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart, Sydney, in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse; and Tivoli, now part of Kambala Girls School, in the suburb of Rose Bay. In Armidale, New South Wales, he designed St Peter's Anglican Cathedral and Booloominbah and Trevenna which are now both part of the University of New England.

Hunt's distinctive, radical architecture was considered to be twenty years in advance of his peers, some of it unequalled in the world at that time, and sowed the seeds of some aspects of modern architecture in Australia. It has been said that "Undoubtedly men such as Hunt... have, through their buildings and their ideas, stiffened the intellectual backbone of Australian architecture." [A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture, Apperly (Angus and Robertson) 1994, p.17] He was instrumental in bringing the North American Shingle Style to Australia. The outstanding example of this style was Highlands, a two-storey home designed by Hunt and built for Alfred Hordern in 1891. Situated in Highlands Avenue, Wahroonga, Sydney, Highlands is listed on the Register of the National Estate. [The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.2/26]

Hunt is interred in South Head General Cemetery, in Sydney. Although several kilometres away from Waverley, it forms part of the Waverley Cemetery extended grounds.

Partial List of Works

The following Hunt buildings are listed on the Register of the National Estate. [The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.96]

* Camelot, Narellan (1888)
* Highlands, Wahroonga, Sydney (1891)
* All Saints Church, Hunters Hill, Sydney (1885)
* Pibrac, Warrawee, Sydney (1888)
* Public School, Rozelle, Sydney (1877)
* Former Catherine Hayes Hospital, Randwick, Sydney (1867)
* Sir John Robertson Memorial, South Head Cemetery, Sydney
* Additions to Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill, Sydney (1874-75)
* Cloncorrick, Darling Point, Sydney (1884)
* Fairwater, Point Piper, Sydney (1881)
* Sacred Heart Convent, Vaucluse, Sydney (1888)
* Church of the Good Shepherd and Rectory, Kangaroo Valley (church 1870, rectory 1879)
* Osborne Memorial Church of St Luke, Dapto (1882)
* St Matthias Church, Denman (1871)
* St Paul's Church of England, Murrurundi (1872)
* Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle (1869)
* Belltrees, Scone (shearing shed) (1907)
* Church of St James, Jerrys Plains (1875)
* Christ Church Cathedral, Grafton (1881)
* Christ Church Cathedral Church Hall, Grafton (1890)
* Public School and Headmaster's Residence, Frederickton (1880)
* Booloominbah, University of New England, Armidale (1883)
* Saint bartholomew's Church of England, Ollera Station, Guyra (1876)
* Extensions to Havilah Property, Mudgee Area (1890)

References

External links

* [http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/past_exhibitions/mos/radical_architect_john_horbury_hunt Historic Houses Trust of NSW - John Horbury Hunt - Radical Architect]