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Bernard R Walker Architect
Background
Background
Prominent Tasmanian architect Barry McNeill wrote “Bernard Ridley Walker (1884–1957), architect, regarded as the last of the ‘gentleman architects’, was the grandson of George Washington Walker,the nineteenth century Quaker missionary. He trained with AC Walker (no relation) & Salier, and then joined Huckson & Hutchison, with the latter member of which he later formed a long partnership. Spending 1911–13 in London, he was influenced by the Arts & Crafts Movement and on returning to Hobart completed early examples such as 441 Sandy Bay Road (1914). Walker’s most prominent projects are the Hobart Cenotaph, won in a design competition (1925), and several inter-war buildings at The Friends School, including its well-known portico and Hodgkin Hall.
During the First World War Walker served in the hospital corps, 1917–19, including over a year in France. In later life he was active on a number of public bodies including the Scenery Preservation Board. He retired from practice in 1955.” – see Note 1 below.
After retiring in 1955 most of the plans of early commissions were destroyed. Thirty-nine surviving engineering plans were deposited with the State Archives Office of Tasmania in 1963. A few remained in the possession of Bernard Walker’s family including the album “Designs of Hutchison and Walker Architects and Engineers and Surveyors” and an index or Catalogue of Plans. The former contains photographs and floor plans of 61 dwellings. The index is an alphabetical list of about 350 clients indicating the work planned for them and its general location.
In 1993 Bernard ( Jim) Walker (son), Tom Murdoch, George Brown and Ian Carrington-Jones decided to locate and visit the above works. From the index Jim compiled a list of the locations of works by suburb, street, street number, work (residence, premises, alterations, additions), original client, year of plan, remarks and page reference to designs in the above album. Streets, street numbers and year of construction were obtained by searching Post Office Directories (1898 to 1948) for the first appearance of the client’s name in the general location indicated by the index. Year of commission was determined from plans where available, receipts, feedback from owners in 1993 or the year that the client’s name first appeared in the postal directory (noted as PD in the summary).
About 170 buildings were visited and photographs taken which were later arranged into two albums, one by works locations, the other by the year works were planned or constructed. A third album includes some engineering works and residences planned by Herman Hutchison. Many of the present owners were met and some provided histories of past owners, alterations and occasionally plans.
All plans were titled Hutchison and Walker. The actual architect was not named but might appear as a signature on contract plans. Thus the actual architect has often been determined somewhat subjectively by Jim Walker with input from Herman’s son, Robert Hutchison. The advertisement in the 1916 edition of Walsh’s Almanac under Hutchison and Walker referred to “H R Hutchison Engineer and Authorised Surveyor” and “Bernard R Walker Architect”. It is thought that generally this is how they operated. However, Herman did some domestic architectural work designing residences for relations and friends.
Incorporating the above information Jim compiled a summary of the architectural works of Hutchison and Walker and Jim still holds the above mentioned albums. This website shows the location and some details of many of the properties visited.
Most of the documents related to Bernard Ridley Walker are in the Tasmanian Archive.
Note 1 – Further reading: B McNeill & L Woolley, Architecture from the edge, Hobart, 2002; ‘Oriel’, Mercury 24 February 1990.
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