Frederick Burwell

Frederick William Burwell (1846-1915) was born in Scotland and trained as an architect there before going to Melbourne and then New Zealand. But it was from Melbourne that he came to Perth in 1890, and was working in a practice with his uncle in 1896, but by 1897 had his own office in Mouat Street, later moving to an office next to the Town Hall, and then to Pearse's Buildings in High Street. He and his wife Annie lived at Simla on Cantonment Hill, and auctioned their household goods at 94 Tuckfield Street before returning to Melbourne where Fred died. (Numbering in the street seems to have changed, as the highest number now seems to be 81. Mutiara is at 79.)

Some of Burwell's work in Fremantle included: Owston's Building, 1903, 9-23 High St; the D&J Fowler Building at 38 Henry St; the Adelec building 28-36 High St; the Falk Building, cnr Phillimore and Henry Sts, 1896, 1903; Central Chambers, 1906/7, 61-63 High St; the King's Theatre [aka Dalkeith Theatre - and shops] South Tce; the Freemasons Hotel (Sail & Anchor), 1903; the Victoria Pavilion, Fremantle Oval, 1897; the Henry Berry (1900), James Lilly (1900) and Burns Philp (1903) warehouses; Marmion Building [where was this - Pakenham St?], 1903; Caledonian Hall, 1903; the Presbyterian Church, 1899, and St Peter's Church of England, 1903, both on the Canning Road (Highway), East Fremantle, and both now demolished, the latter for the Stirling Bridge approaches. Burwell was assisted by John McNeece before the latter went solo.

Some of his buildings

owston

Owston's Building 1903 (Google)

D&J Fowler Building, 38 Henry Street (Battye's Cyclopedia)

Adelec Building (Google)

Falk Building, 2 Henry Street

Central Chambers, High Street, cnr Henry Street

The King's Theatre, aka Dalkeith Theatre/Opera House; now a 'night club'

Freemasons Hotel (Sail and Anchor)

Victoria Pavilion (grandstand at Fremantle Oval)

The Caledonian Hall, Parry Street, corner of Quarry St

The East Fremantle Presbyterian Church was on the corner of Canning Road (Highway) and King Street.

St Peter's Anglican Church was on the corner of Canning Road/Highway and Duke Street. Richmond Quarter is now on this site.

References and Links

John J. Taylor, Western Australian Architect Biographies @ Aust Inst Architects website

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 26 January, 2019 and hosted at freotopia.org/architects/burwell.html (it was last updated on 8 December, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.