Frederick Kawerau

Frederick Kawerau
Born 1 October 1817
Boleslawiec
Died 1 January 1876(1876-01-01) (aged 58)
Germany
Nationality German
Education Royal Academy in Berlin

Engineering career

Engineering discipline architect
Practice name Snell & Kawerau
Significant projects Kew Asylum 1864

Frederick (German Friedrich) Ferdinand Kawerau was a German born architect and surveyor who worked in Geelong, Victoria, Australia between about 1849 and 1854. [1]

Kawerau was born on 1 October 1817 in Boleslawiec, and was probably uncle of Gustav Kawerau. He studied in Berlin, and was appointed as surveyor from the Royal Academy in Berlin.[2] He was married to Maria[3] and for a time lived in Hamburg.

Migration to Australia

Kawerau and his wife arrived in Melbourne in 1849 on the Dockenhuden[4] together with his brother Carl Theodor (1822-1904)[5] and his wife Mary (she was 21 years old in 1849.[2]

He purchased land in the German settlement of Westgarthtown in 1850, and was naturalized on 15 May 1850.[6] Shortly after he sold up and tried his luck on the goldfields. He then moved to Geelong where he established an office in Ryrie Street, Geelong, from where he called for at least four successful tenders in the 1850s.[7]

Partnership with Snell

Kawarau formed a partnership with Edward Snell on 1 January 1853, with whom he undertook a number of projects in Geelong, including the Little River station and goods shed.[8] The partnership prospered for a time, but was dissolved in the 1854, perhaps because Kawerau recognised the downturn in the colony would reduce further prospects. (Snell went on to partner with another architect, his friend Edward Prowse).[7]

Ill-health saw Kawerau to decide to return to Europe in mid-1854. However, plans to leave the colony were abandoned in part when he could not plans were frustrated because he could not get a licence for his enlarged house and he had to take in boarders. This house was in Skene Street Geelong, later becoming the Hotel Garni (since demolished( which was described as 'a beautiful little Swiss cottage'.[9] It is also possible that he did return to Germany briefly, then went back to Australia in 1856.[2][10]

He called for at least another forty-four tenders in the boom years of 1853-54 with Snell. Among their joint work were the Geelong Railway Station, 'Hawthorne' Skene Street, a School master's house on the NW corner of Myer and Gheringhap Streets,[7] and the Terminus Hotel, Geelong (originally the Golden Point Hotel).[11]

Kawerau went on to become a draughtsman and then senior architect with the Public Works Department (Victoria) in Melbourne from about 1866. His major work from this time was the Kew Lunatic Asylum, for the PWD[12] built in 1864-1871, to house the growing number of "lunatics", "inebriates", and "idiots" in the Colony of Victoria. However, reports of inferior works on the foundations, led to an investigation which saw Frederick Kawerau resign his position in the PWD.[13]

In 1869 he returned to Germany, possibly without his wife Maria.[14] and in January 1870 he was in Berlin [15] later being made Australian consul in Berlin in 1875.[16] He was last listed at the Berlin address in 1876.[17]

Kawerau died in around 1876 possibly in Berlin.

Architectural works

References

  1. ↑ Wikisource discussion (German version), Friedrich Ferdinand Kawerau
  2. 1 2 3 Rootsweb AUS-MELBOURNE-L Archives
  3. ↑ Family Haupt genealogical research 'Kawerau
  4. ↑ wendishheritage.org
  5. ↑ Rootsweb DEU-SCHLESIEN)
  6. ↑ Westgarthtown Newsletter
  7. 1 2 3 4 Huddle, Lorraine, 1983-03, Architects of early Geelong [Series of parts] Parts 4-7 Investigator, Vols. 18
  8. ↑ Willson, Joanne; Bennett, Kirstie, (draftsperson.); Snell and Kawerau (architect.) (1985), Railway Station & Goods Shed, Little River, retrieved 23 March 2014
  9. ↑ Miles Lewis Australian Building, citing Edward Snell [ed Tom Griffiths], The Life and Adventures of Edward Snell (North Ryde [NSW] 1988), p 379.
  10. ↑ Rootsweb Geelong District
  11. ↑ Australian Heritage Database Terminus Hotel, Geelong
  12. 1 2 "Former Willsmere Hospital (listing VICH861)". Australia Heritage Places Inventory. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  13. ↑ Cheryl Day unpublished PhD thesis, available in PDF form through the University of Melbourne Library website p.31
  14. ↑ rootsweb, SE Queensland German families
  15. ↑ meeting of the Geographical Society of Berlin from 8 . January 1870
  16. ↑ Rootsweb Archive - Sagen family
  17. ↑ , als Kawerau, F., Baumeister, Frobenstr]
  18. ↑ Heritage Victoria database
  19. ↑ Miles Lewis, Australian Building, citing Edward Snell [ed Tom Griffiths], The Life and Adventures of Edward Snell (North Ryde [NSW] 1988), p 379.
  20. ↑ Australian Heritage Database St Giles Church and Free Church School
  21. ↑ Victorian Heritage Database, Christ Church, Geelong
  22. ↑ Victorian Heritge Database St Pauls Geelong
  23. ↑ Australian Heritage Database Terminus Hotel
  24. ↑ Victorian Heritage Database
  25. ↑ On My doorstep Lutheran Church) or 1863/1864 (Kirche.org
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