Person

Purchas, Albert (1825 - 1909)

Born
1825
Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales
Died
26 September 1909
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Architect, Engineer and Surveyor

Summary

Albert Purchas, a Melbourne engineer, architect and surveyor, helped to build and equip the factory for the Melbourne Meat Preserving Company, which was founded by Samuel Sextus Ritchie in 1867. As surveyor, he designed the curved alignment of St. Kilda Road around the Domain hill (now the Shrine of Remembrance), created many maps of Melbourne and Suburbs, designed the Melbourne General Cemetery, the Melbourne Zoological Gardens and the Boroondara Cemetery. As an architect, he had at various times partnered with J. H. Grainger and Charles R. Swyer.

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Details

Chronology

1851
Life event - Migrated to Australia
1855 -
Career event - Member, Philosophical Society of Victoria
1856 - 1862
Career position - Architect, in partnership with Charles R. Swyer
1857 -
Career event - Member, Philosophical Institute of Victoria
1864
Career position - Architect and Surveyor, Boroondara Cemetery
1871
Career position - Member, Royal Commission on Silting in Hobson's Bay (V&P LA VIC 1871 A8)
1883 -
Career event - Foundation Member, Victorian Engineers Association
1887 - 1888
Career event - President, Royal Victorian Institute of Architects
1909
Life event - Buried, Boroondara Cemetery, Victoria

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. p.26. Details

Resources

See also

Rosanne Walker; Ken McInnes

Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 16 August 2023

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