Christopher Porter (architect)

Christopher Porter (c.1801–1874) was an architect who was prominent in Geelong, Victoria in the late 1850s and 60s, and later in Brisbane, Queensland (now within Australia).

Normal School, Brisbane, circa 1885

Porter migrated to Victoria with his family in 1851, worked as an architect in Geelong and then Brisbane, where he was appointed City Surveyor, and then turned to farming.[1]

He designed:

  • Bell & Son Bakery in Geelong[2]
  • Geelong Chamber of Commerce building in Moorabool Street in 1858[3]
  • Ballarat Chamber of Commerce in 1859[4]
  • Kedron Lodge in Brisbane 1860[5]
  • Normal School in Brisbane in 1860, becoming the Queensland Board of Education's first general architect[6]
  • Ballarat Benevolent Society in 1866[7]
Christopher Porter residence at Doughboy Creek, Murarrie, circa 1872.jpg

The Geelong Chamber of Commerce was built by Boynton and Conway, demolished 1955), described as ...a Barrabool freestone building of two storeys with an elaborate facade which included giant Corinthian order columns.[3]

The design of the Normal School was later thought to have included a subtle joke with [A]ll doorways and windows had wide key stones and copings forming the shape of the dreaded broad arrow of convict days.[8]

Porter also had an interest in a pottery and brickworks for the manufacture of tiles and hollow bricks at Mopoke Gully near Ballarat in the 1860s, which may have been connected to his contracting works.[9]

Damaged headstone for Porter in the Christ Church Anglican cemetery, Tingalpa

He lived in his final years at Doughboy Creek (now in Hemmant), and died in 1874, and was buried in Tingalpa Church Cemetery.[10] He lived in his final years at Doughboy Creek, and died in 1874, and was buried in Tingalpa Church Cemetery.[1][10]

References
  1. "Gone". The Queenslander. IX (27). 8 August 1874. p. 9. Retrieved 5 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. Victorian Heritage Database Report, Bell & Son Baker (former)
  3. The "Geelong Album" photographed by E. de Balk, Geelong, 1866
  4. "THE NEW CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HALL". The Star. IV (118). Victoria, Australia. 19 May 1859. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Local Intelligence". The Moreton Bay Courier. XV (931). Queensland, Australia. 16 October 1860. p. 2. Retrieved 5 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Normal School, Brisbane, ca. 1885 QldPics http://www.bonzle.com/c/a
  7. "The History of Ballarat" by William Bramwell Withers First published in 1870 - this list of over 1400 names has been compiled from the Second Edition 1887
  8. "Says Paintings Are Atrocious Too". Truth (2832). Brisbane. 4 July 1954. p. 42. Retrieved 5 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "THE LATE MR ROBERT SMITH". The Ballarat Star. XIII (242). Victoria, Australia. 9 October 1868. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Family Notices". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland, Australia. 5 August 1874. p. 1. Retrieved 8 April 2020 – via Trove.

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