Mitchell Toy: Inside story of ‘the terrier’ architect Joseph Reed

The man who designed the Royal Exhibition Building, State Library and Melbourne Town Hall earned the nickname the “Australian terrier” and worked so much he died of exhaustion.

Prolific architect Joseph Reed designed dozens of Melbourne’s world-class buildings.

The Melbourne Town Hall, the Royal Exhibition Building, and Rippon Lea estate are among the long list of grand old buildings in Melbourne.

But few know that these buildings were all designed by the same man, Joseph Reed.

And the list of landmarks born from the prolific architect’s pencil doesn’t stop there.

Trades Hall in Carlton, the Geelong Town Hall and Ormond College at Melbourne University were all dreamt up by Reed.

So were the Wesley Church in Lonsdale St, the Scots’ Church on Collins St, the Collins St Baptist Church, various buildings at Melbourne University and a swathe of opulent private residences.

Prolific Melbourne architect Joseph Reed and his drawings for the Melbourne Public Library, later named the State Library of Victoria. Picture: State Library of Victoria

He was the supervising architect during the construction of St Paul’s Cathedral, and designed its chapter house.

All up, Joseph Reed drafted more than 30 major buildings in Melbourne, many of which became icons of their suburbs, or the city itself.

His tenacious and aggressive attitude won him plenty of public tenders and design competitions, but his drive ultimately saw him die of “exhaustion” after a career that made him one of the fathers of modern Melbourne.

The Royal Exhibition Building, Joseph Reed’s most well-known design. Picture: State Library of Victoria

HUNGRY TO BUILD

At the age of 31, having been in Melbourne for about a year, Joseph Reed was about to make his mark.

Born and raised in Cornwall and having trained as an architect in Britain, Reed had made the long voyage to the colony in July 1853, hungry to make a name for himself.

When a competition was announced to design Melbourne’s new public library, Reed leapt at it, and won.

His 1854 design became the Public Library Victoria, one of the first public libraries in the world, open to anybody over the age of 14 on the condition their hands were clean.

It later became the State Library of Victoria and Reed’s architectural firm was commissioned to make extensions and add-ons, including the existing grand portico at the entrance, and the renowned domed La Trobe Reading Room, designed by Reed’s firm after his death.

Nicholas Chevalier painting, The Public Library, of Joseph Reed-designed Public Library Victoria. Picture: State Library of Victoria

Partnering with Frederick Barnes, Reed became the leading architect in the colony.

Among the form’s earlier designs were the Geelong Town Hall, the Bank of New South Wales on Collins St (the facade of which was later moved to Melbourne University) and Rippon Lea, built in 1868.

Perhaps their most significant design was the Royal Exhibition Building, which became the site of Federation, housed countless major exhibitions, was home to Victorian parliament in the early 20th century and is now a World Heritage-listed building.

But some of Reed’s other buildings are gone for good.

Regarded as Reed’s best work, the gothic-inspired Wilson Hall at Melbourne University was destroyed by fire in 1952 and replaced with a modern structure.

The grand Menzies Hotel on William St, built in 1867, stood for more than a century before its demolition in 1970.

The Eastern Market, a sprawling neo-classical building on Bourke St constructed in 1877, was pulled down about 1960.

Buildings designed by Robert Reed including the Easter Marker (top), Menzies Hotel (centre) and Wilson Hall (bottom) have been destroyed or demolished. Pictures: State Library of Victoria

THE ‘TERRIER’ OF ARCHITECTURE

“An Australian terrier,” said a former employer of Joseph Reed.

“Liable to snap up at you, with sudden violence, then forget all he had said and be helpful and kind.”

Reed was known for his kind and fatherly demeanour, punctuated by fits of anger that could catch anyone standing close.

He held grudges against the government when they handed work to others that he thought was rightly his.

Melbourne Town Hall, designed by Joseph Reed, under construction in the 1880s, and in 1910 after its completion. Pictures: State Library of Victoria

A bachelor for most of his life, he married Hannah Lane in 1885 and embarked on a tour of Europe that informed some of Reed’s later architectural works.

But his grand vision for Melbourne remained incomplete.

Reed took ill in 1890, about the time his chapter house at St Paul’s Cathedral was completed.

After being confined to bed for three weeks, he died aged 67 at his home in Hawthorn.

Rippon Lea Estate was among the designs of Melbourne architect Joseph Reed

His death was declared to be the result of “inanition and exhaustion”.

Reed had been under financial stress after a string of land speculation deals had gone wrong.

The architectural firm he founded survives today as Bates Smart, one of the oldest in Australia.

Reed’s widow Hannah went to England after his death, remarried and had a son, whom she named Joseph after her late husband.

Despite having no children of his own, Reed’s life work is etched across Melbourne in the world-class buildings he brought to life.