Edmund Wright (architect)

Edmund William Wright (4 April 1824 – 5 August 1888) was a London-born Australian architect, engineer and businessman who was Mayor of Adelaide in 1859.

Early life

Wright was the third son of Stephen Amand Wright who may have been Master of Ordnance at the Tower of London. He trained as architect and surveyor and in 1849 emigrated to South Australia with his brother Edward where they worked as land agents and joined the rush to the Victorian goldfields, but by 1852 he had returned to Adelaide where he married Agnes Jane Stuckey (née Rippingville).^[1] Agnes was the widow of Henry Stuckey (c. 1820 – 31 May 1851), also an Adelaide architect.^[2]

Business career

He worked as insurance agent and was appointed to the boards of several mining companies.^[1] In 1859 he was elected Mayor of the City of Adelaide. In 1875 he succeeded Alfred Watts as Consul for Sweden and Norway.

Architect

Wright was a partner with E. J. Woods and E. A. Hamilton in the architectural firm of Wright, Woods & Hamilton, later Wright and Hamilton, from 1866 to 1871 and from 1888 to 1893 with James Henry Reed and Isidor Beaver as Wright, Reed & Beaver. He designed (either alone or in partnership) the following buildings:

• "Belmont", Brougham Place, North Adelaide (1858)
• Congregational Church, Brougham Place, North Adelaide (1861)
• Methodist Meeting Hall, off Pirie Street, Adelaide (1863)
• St. Laurence's Church and Priory, Buxton Street, North Adelaide (1867–1868)
• GPO (General Post Office) building, King William Street, Adelaide (1867–1872)
• Jewish Synagogue, off Rundle Street East (1871)
• Bank of South Australia, now "Edmund Wright House" 59 King William Street, with Lloyd Tayler (1878)
• Bank of Adelaide, 81 King William Street, Adelaide (1878–1880)
• West wing of Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide (1883–1889)
• "Linden" at Burnside
• "Paringa Hall" for the Cudmore family, Brighton Road, Brighton
• "Athelney" at College Park
• "Princess Royal" homestead at Burra^[1]
• Adelaide Educational Institution schoolhouse, 61–71 Young Street, Parkside
• National Mutual Life building (later known as Goode House), Collins Street, Melbourne

References

1. Healey, John S.A.'s Greats: The men and women of the North Terrace plaques Historical Society of South Australia, 2003 ISBN 0-9579430-0-8
2. "Family Notices.". South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) (Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia). 26 October 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

External links

• P. A. Howell, Wright, Edmund William (1824-1888), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, Melbourne University Press, 2005, pp 414–415.
• Sullivan, Christine, 'Wright, Edmund William', Architects of South Australia, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2008.