Basic Biographical Details Name: | Peter Kerr | Designation: | | Born: | 21 August 1820 | Died: | 31 March 1912 | Bio Notes: | Peter Kerr was born in Aberdeen on 21 August 1820, son of James Kerr, shipmaster and leather merchant, and his wife Helen Chesney. He served his articles with Archibald Simpson for four years from 1839, thereafter working in the office of George Fowler Jones in York. In 1845 he was engaged by the Duke of Sutherland to implement Sir Charles Barry's plans for the remodelling and extension of Dunrobin Castle. These had not fitted the site and the Duke twice revised them in collaboration with the Aberdeen architect and contractor William Leslie, under whom Kerr presumably acted as draughtsman. By 1848 Kerr had found a place in Barry's London office, and shortly after the end of the Palace of Westminster works in February 1852 Kerr emigrated to Melbourne, probably as a result of a recommendation from Barry to his former assistant Thomas Kemp, who was in partnership with John George Knight as Knight & Kemp, architects and engineers. Kerr tried his hand at cattle rearing for a time at Upper Yarra but returned to architecture in Melbourne.
In 1855 Kemp returned to England and Kerr was taken into partnership, the firm becoming Knight & Kerr. In 1858-59 Knight & Kerr designed the Melbourne Council and Assembly Chambers and the Library of the Houses of Parliament following the abandonment of the competition-winning scheme by Smith& Pritchard. The scheme was essentially Kerr's, Knight being an engineer. Knight was first president of the Victorian Institute of Architects and was admitted FRIBA on 21 January 1861, but shortly thereafter Kerr left the practice to become a pastoralist and tour other colonies, Knight closing the practice c.1865-66 to undertake exhibition work. On 20 October 1865 Kerr entered into a partnership with his former assistant W H Ellerker as Ellerker & Kerr, Queen Street, Brisbane, but within two years the partnership was closed and from 1866 Kerr served in the Victorian Public Works Department as an architect. He undertook the enlargement and completion of the Melbourne parliament building in 1877-92, and was also responsible for Government House, the Post Office, Custom House and parts of the Law Courts, all in Melbourne, prior to his retirement in 1892.
Kerr was one of the founders of the Victorian Institute of Architects in August 1856, and was made an honorary fellow when it received its Royal Charter in 1889. On 11 March of the same year he was admitted FRIBA, his proposers being George Chalmers Inskip, William Salway and Arthur Ebden Johnson, all of Melbourne.
Kerr died at South Melbourne on 31 March 1912, survived by his wife Harriette Bertrand and two sons and two daughters of their seven children. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Aberdeen, Scotland | Business | 1845 | 1848 | | | Melbourne, Australia | Business | c. 1852 | | | | 15, Service Crescent, South Melbourne, Australia | Private/business | Before 1907 | After 1910 | |
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ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | APSD | | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | | | Australian Dictionary of Biography | | Australian Dictionary of Biography | | | | | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | | | Jenkins, G H | | A Short History of the Parliament House, Melbourne | | | | | Watson, Donald and McKay, Judith | 1994 | Queensland Architects of the 19th Century | | Brisbane: Queensland Museum | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | RIBA Journal | 25 May 1912 | v19 | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p531 - obituary | | Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Journal | July 1905 | | | 'Peter Kerr, (Hon Fellow) FRIBA' |
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