Architect and soldier Sir J.J. Talbot Hobbs was born on 24 August 1864 in London. After migrating from England to Western Australia in the late 1880s, Hobbs designed many buildings that were constructed in Perth, Fremantle, and regional areas of the State. Although Talbot Hobbs has previously been recognised as a significant and influential contributor to architecture in Australia, his development as an architect has not been documented, nor has his design output undergone critical analysis. A number of problems confront attempts to interpret Hobbs' contribution to architecture. One is that a number of his most prominent building designs have been demolished. Another is that national recognition for his achievements as a First World War Army General have overshadowed his extraordinarily productive pre and post-war career as an architect. Military service was intrinsic to his character, and thus is woven in to this architectural biography. The thesis examines Hobbs' life and work, filling the gap in documented evidence of his contributions, and fitting it within the context of Australian architectural and social history. The main proposition to be tested is whether Hobbs' Australian architecture, of English derivation, combined with vast community service, warrants his recognition as an architect and citizen of national significance. Completely new important issues, information, discussion and facts that have resulted from the research for this thesis are: 1. Biographical knowledge about Hobbs' life including his upbringing, education and training in England, and his fifty years of comprehensive work and community service in and for Australia; 2. The elucidation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century architectural issues that were relevant to Hobbs and other architects in Western Australia; 3. Examination of the important works of Hobbs' architect predecessors and contemporaries in Perth, and the setting of his own work within this context; 4. Revelation of his primary and pivotal role in war memorial design and organisational work for the far-flung theatres of Australian Army conflicts and selected personal design works within Australia itself during 1919-38; and 5. A chronology and summary of Hobbs' life, with thorough documentation of his output as a sole practitioner in the period 1887-1904 by development of a detailed web-based database - an extremely valuable tool for future researchers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/288405 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Taylor, John J. |
| Publisher | University of Western Australia. Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright John J. Taylor, http://www.itpo.uwa.edu.au/UWA-Computer-And-Software-Use-Regulations.html |
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