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Joseph Francis Allen (1869-1933) was born in Cornwall and reached Fremantle in 1896 via Sydney.
C.Y. O’Connor’s Fremantle [[../port/index.html|Harbour]] works were in full swing and Allen worked on the project for two years as an assistant engineer.
As a founder and partner of the architectural firm of Allen and Nicholas, he was responsible for the design of the [[../eastfremantle/eastphotos.html|East Fremantle Town Hall]] and the Fremantle [[../buildings/tradeshall.html|Trades Hall]].
In 1903 Allen became interested in local politics. He served on the East Fremantle Council for 29 of his remaining 30 years, including five years as mayor. Allen was also elected to the State Government as a Liberal member for West Province. He became chairman of committees in 1919 but was defeated the following year.
For the rest of his life he worked in conservative politics at an organisational level. He also served on public utility boards, professional associations and Rotary. His death in 1933 was sudden and mysterious. His body was found in the Swan River off East Street, but the Coroner found no suspicious circumstances, [as he had apparently had a myocardial infarction]. Text and photo, MCB.
Joseph Allen designed: the [[../buildings/tradeshall.html|Trades Hall]], 1904, Collie St; the [[../buildings/strelitz.html|Strelitz Building]] 30 Mouat St; the Seppelts warehouse, 7 Pakenham St. His firm, Allen & Nicholas, designed: the [[../organisations/commerce.html|Chamber of Commerce]] Building; the monument on Monument Hill; renovations to the [[../hotels/p&o.html|P&O Hotel]], 1930s; and the Halco warehouse at 8 Pakenham St on the corner with Short St, where [[../buildings/manninghall.html|Manning's Folly]] stood, and where there is now a new apartment building behind what's left of the facade.
J.F. Allen with the other East Fremantle councillors in 1925. Fremantle Library Local History Collection image #55-02.
References and Links
Page at streetsofeastfreo.
Entry in the ADB
Wikipedia page
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 June, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/allen.html (it was last updated on 15 January, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.