Alfred Newman (architect)

Alfred G Newman – Architect
Lauriston, Strathfield
Born 18 January 1875
South Australia
Died 18 January 1921 (aged 46)
New South Wales
Nationality Australian
Occupation Architect
Projects 15 Methodist Churches throughout NSW
Design The Tower Wing MLC School

Alfred Gambier Newman (18 January 1875 – 18 January 1921) was an Australian architect active in the first 20 years of the 20th century. He designed significant work for both the Methodist Church and the Newman and Vickery families.

Early life

Newman was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, one of eight children of Emma Ann (née Fisher) and the Rev. Charles Thomas Newman. He was educated at Prince Alfred College (PAC), Adelaide (1887–1890) where his art master was James Ashton. After leaving PAC, Newman studied art and design at the South Australian School of Art. In 1896 his mother died in Kapunda. In 1900 his father married Elizabeth Vickery, the daughter of Ebenezer Vickery, merging two prominent Methodist families.

Architect

Newman was articled to architect Frederick William Dancker. He then worked as an architect in Adelaide and became an Associate of the South Australian Institute of Architects in 1898. He advertised in The Advertiser as "Alfred G Newman A.S.A.I.A. Architect" of Augusta Street Glenelg, South Australia and later in King William Street, Adelaide before moving to Sydney in 1906. He resigned from the South Australian Roll of Architects in 1909.

Marriage and family

Newman and his wife lived at Ingleburn, Kingsland Road, Strathfield, and had three daughters, one stillborn. He died at home in Strathfield in 1921.

Architectural commissions

From the time Newman moved to Sydney he was a superintendent of the Sunday school at the Strathfield Methodist Church and over a period of 15 years did a substantial amount of design work for the church. His buildings include:

Churches

For the Church of Christ he designed:

  • Strathfield
    Strathfield
  • Young
    Young
  • Croydon
    Croydon
  • Manilla
    Manilla
  • Woodford
    Woodford
  • Dee Why
    Dee Why
  • Hurlstone Park
    Hurlstone Park

Church school halls

Parsonages

Commercial

  • Shop and Residence (in front of Uniting Church Hall) 282-284 King Street, Newtown, New South Wales.
  • Former Joseph Vickery & Co Building (1908 Scientology House) 201 Castlereagh Street, Sydney

Schools

  • The Tower Wing at MLC School (previously Methodist Ladies' College, Burwood,) was commenced in 1918 in a Tudor Gothic style to harmonise with the existing architecture of the school.

Houses

The following house designs are attributed to Newman:

  • Tiptree 1906 (later Eva Horden Red Cross Home, demolished 1954) Cnr Llandilo Avenue and Kingsland Road Strathfield, New South Wales, built for Newman's father, Rev. C T Newman, and his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Ebenezer Vickery
  • Lauriston 1907 (now Santa Maria Del Monte School) Cnr The Boulevarde and Margaret Street Strathfield, New South Wales, built for Amy Alfreda Vickery, a daughter of Ebenezer Vickery
  • Ingleburn 1908 13–15 Kingsland Road Strathfield, built by Newman as his own home
  • Wych Hazel 1911 (demolished 2014) 30 Livingstone Street Burwood, New South Wales, built for Oswald Aubrey Parker and his wife Sylvia Jane, a granddaughter of Ebenezer Vickery
  • Camden Lodge 1917 (burnt out 2012) 98–102 Burlington Road Homebush, New South Wales, built as Canlidgy for Robert Trevethan In 2023 the front of the house is being restored with James Phillips of Weir and Philips doing the heritage work and Litera Trotta architects designing the new two level rear wing with underground parking.

Apartments

Architectural legacy

Dying at 46 years of age, Newman is not well known in historical or architectural circles in Sydney in the 2020s. His residential tour de force was Tiptree. It was an enormous mansion built for his stepmother and father in 1906 and demolished less than fifty years later for suburban subdivision. Tiptree is now the name of a cul de sac that was built on its substantial grounds. The house Wych Hazel was demolished in 2014 and the house Camden Lodge was burnt down in 2012. Camden Lodge is being rebuilt as the local council refused to let the owner demolish its burnt out shell. Only a portion of The Tower Wing at MLC School remains. Most of his Methodist churches remain as Uniting churches after church Union in 1977 but the Woodford Methodist Church is now abandoned. The Epping Methodist Church has been demolished for high rise development. Thirty timber pews from the church found a new home in a Wesleyan Church in Tonga. Several windows were used in Uniting Church aged-care facilities in Leichhardt and Narellan. A panelled stained-glass window depicting the Last Supper is still yet to find a new home sensitive to its Christian imagery. The developer of the new residential tower is recycling church materials including the foundation stone from 1905. Bricks and stones are being used in the two-storey podium balconies at the front of the new building. A heritage area dedicated to the church will feature in the development’s piazza but won’t mention the architect who designed it. His Church of Christ in Marrickville has been demolished after being empty for many years and a million dollars spent in an effort to have it removed for low cost inner city housing. The former Joseph Vickery & Co Building in Sydney is now a well restored office building housing the Church of Scientology rather than a mainstream Christian denomination. Newman’s design for a Temperance Hall has been redeveloped as a luxury apartment block and is named in honour of Frederic Chelmsford, a former Governor of NSW, rather than the architect who designed the building.