Nationality German Engineering discipline Architect Died January 1, 1876 | Name Frederick Kawerau Practice name Snell & Kawerau Significant projects Kew Asylum | |
Born 1 October 1817 Boleslawiec Education Royal Academy in Berlin | ||
Frederick (German: Friedrich) Ferdinand Kawerau was a German-born architect and surveyor, who worked in Geelong, Victoria, Australia between about 1849 and 1854.
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Kawerau was born on 1 October 1817 in Bolesławiec, in Lower Silesia, and was probably uncle of Gustav Kawerau. He studied in Berlin, and was appointed as surveyor from the Royal Academy in Berlin. He was married to Maria and for a time lived in Hamburg.
Migration to Australia
Kawerau and his wife arrived in Melbourne in 1849 on the Dockenhuden together with his brother Carl Theodor (1822-1904) and his wife Mary (she was 21 years old in 1849.
He purchased land in the German settlement of Westgarthtown in 1850, and was naturalized on 15 May 1850. Shortly after, he sold up and tried his luck on the goldfields. He then moved to Geelong where he established an office in Ryrie Street, Geelong, from where he successfully applied for at least four successful tenders in the 1850s.
Partnership with Edward Snell
Kawarau formed a partnership with Edward Snell on 1 January 1853, with whom he undertook a number of projects in Geelong, including the Little River station and goods shed. In the boom years of 1853-54, he and Snell applied for at least another forty-four tenders. Among their joint work were the Geelong Railway Station, "Hawthorne" in Skene Street, a schoolmaster's house on the north-west corner of Myer and Gheringhap Streets, and the Terminus Hotel, Geelong (originally the Golden Point Hotel). Although the partnership had prospered for a time, it was dissolved in the 1854, perhaps because Kawerau felt that the downturn in the colony would reduce further prospects. (Snell went on to partner with another architect, his friend Edward Prowse).
Later career
Ill-health saw Kawerau to decide to return to Europe in mid-1854. However, plans to leave the colony were abandoned, in part because he could not get a hotel licence for his enlarged house and he had to take in boarders. The house was in Skene Street, Geelong, and later became the Hotel Garni (since demolished) which was described as "a beautiful little Swiss cottage". It is also possible that Kawerau did return to Germany briefly, but went back to Australia in 1856.
Kawerau went on to become a draughtsman, and then senior architect, with the Victorian Public Works Department (PWD), and was architect and clerk of works for improvements at the Yarra Bend Asylum. He was also a witness in the Bowie versus Watson libel case, in which Dr Robert Bowie brought an action against The Argus newspaper in 1862. His major work from this time was the Kew Lunatic Asylum, for the PWD built in 1864-1871, to house the growing number of "lunatics", "inebriates", and "idiots" in the Colony of Victoria. However, reports of inferior works on the foundations led to an investigation, which saw Kawerau resign his position in the PWD.
In 1869 he returned to Germany, possibly without his wife Maria. and in January 1870 he was in Berlin, being made Australian consul in Berlin in 1875. He was last listed at the Berlin address in 1876.
Kawerau died in about 1876, possibly in Berlin.