Index
Architect Personal DetailsArchitectural works in South Australia
Firms or Professional PartnershipsBibliographic Sources

Architect Personal Details

Surname

Williams

First name

David

Gender

Male

Born

31/05/1856

Died

29/08/1940

Biography

David Williams (1856-1940) was one of the first generation of architects to be born and train in South Australia. He was amongst the group who resolved to form the South Australian Institute of Architects on 20 September 1886 and he undertook a two-year term as president between 1911 and 1913 (Page 1986, Freeland 1971). During his presidency the institute revived its previous calls for the South Australian Government to hold design competitions for large public buildings and it also applied successfully for ‘allied society’ membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (‘Institute of Architects’ 1912, 1913). For the majority of his professional career Williams was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Charles Thomas Good (1864-1926), as Williams & Good. Their practice designed a considerable number of well-known South Australian buildings.

Born on 31 May 1856, David Williams was the elder of the two sons and six daughters of early South Australian colonist and well-known builder David Williams snr and his wife Elizabeth (nee Davies) of Brown Street, Adelaide (‘Personal’ 1913; SA Births 1997: 3283). He married Annie Good (1859-1942), third daughter of Thomas Good, a prominent merchant, at the bride’s parents’ home in Brougham Place, North Adelaide, on 26 March 1884 (‘Marriages’ 1884; Biographical Index 1986: 1715). They made their family home at ‘Erwood’ in High Street, Unley Park, where they brought up two sons, Leslie Good Williams (1889-1952) and Francis Edgar Williams (1893-1943). Leslie and Francis were educated at Kyre College, a Baptist School in Unley (‘Out Among the People’ 1941). Leslie followed his father into architecture while Francis pursued studies in the Arts at the University of Adelaide and was named Rhodes Scholar for 1915 (‘The Rhodes Scholarship’ 1914). The brothers both served in World War 1. After the war Francis went on to study Anthropology at Oxford University, England, and worked from the early 1920s in the British colony of Papua where he was highly regarded as Government Anthropologist from 1928 until his untimely death in 1943 (‘Private Casualty Advices’ 1943; Young 2006). After a short period in practice with his father in 1927, Leslie Williams moved to Quorn, in the Flinders Ranges and later to Victor Harbor (‘Family Notices’ 1952).

David Williams opened a solo practice in c.1880 in Furze Chambers, King William Street, Adelaide (Boothby’s Directory 1880). The 1880s was a time of boom and growth in South Australia and he received a number of commissions including for new churches for the Baptist and Wesleyan communities at Norton Summit and Wayville (‘Baptist Church’, ‘Wesleyan Church’, 1882, 1885). In 1889, when South Australia was facing a depression, he formed a partnership with his wife’s brother Charles. Charles was born in South Australia but trained in architecture in England; he gained his early experience there and in Melbourne and moved into partnership soon after he returned to Adelaide from the Victorian capital (‘Obituary’ 1926; Page 1986). By 1915 both David Williams and Charles Good had travelled to Europe on study trips (‘The Art of Architects’ 1915). The successful and prolific practice of Williams & Good lasted until Charles’ sudden death in March 1926. The following year Williams and his son Leslie had a brief partnership as Williams & Son (Willis 1998).

The practice of Williams & Good was based initially in King William Street but thereafter at 14 Waymouth Street, Adelaide. Through the 1890s, the partners designed new houses and alterations to existing dwellings in Adelaide (Page 1986; Willis 1998). They also gained the commission for the substantial North Bundaleer homestead near Jamestown in the Mid-North of the state for pastoralist George Maslin. Tenders were called for Maslin’s homestead in 1897 and it was completed c.1901 The homestead was placed on the State Heritage Register in 1983.(‘North Bundaleer’).

Williams & Good’s other early commissions included the Baptist Church, Wayville (opened 1895), a church and institute for the Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission (1897) in Wright Street, Adelaide, a five-storey warehouse in Grenfell Street for Goode, Durant & Co. (1905, additions 1910), a new home for Minda at Aldgate (1904) (with Garlick and Jackman). They designed Kalyra (1895, additional wing 1905) and Nunyara (1902) Consumptive Homes at Belair; both were in keeping with contemporary principles of patient care and rehabilitation. Subsequent works included a major addition to James Marshall & Co’s (1908) department store on the corner of Rundle Street and Stephens Place, a warehouse (1913), and later an office building (1920), for A.E. & F. Tolley Ltd both on Waymouth Street, and a warehouse for wholesale grocers and general merchants Henry Berry & Co. (1915) on Franklin Street. The practice was responsible for several theatres, including the 1800-seat Tivoli on Grote Street, described as ‘the most luxuriously-appointed theatre in Australasia’ (‘Tivoli’ 1913: 19). The Majestic Theatre, on the site of White’s Rooms and the Old Tivoli on King William Street, followed in 1916 and was acclaimed as ‘the only place in Australia built without inside posts’ (‘Majestic Theatre’ 1916: 7).

Williams & Good’s educational and ecclesiastical commissions in the suburbs included a lecture hall (1903) and a new church (1917) for the Baptist congregation on Northgate Street, Unley Park, St Columba’s parish hall (1905), Hawthorn, and a new building that housed a science laboratory at Kyre College (1909), Unley. The practice carried out additions and alterations to accommodation and other facilities for the Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission at Parafield (1889, 1919). In its final year, 1926, Williams & Good contributed to ‘the remarkable progress’ of Birkenhead, Port Adelaide, designing a two-storey brick building for General Motors Limited on Rann Street (‘Another large motor works’ 1926: 15).

David Williams appears to have retired by c.1928. He died at home in Unley Park in 1940 and was buried at the Mitcham cemetery.

Christine Garnaut

Citation Details
Garnaut, Christine, 'Williams, David', Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2013, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=104]

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Architectural works in South Australia

Name Suburb Year Designed
Norton's Summit Baptist Church Norton Summit
Wayville Baptist Church Wayville
Colton Building Adelaide 1894
Colton Building Adelaide 1894
North Bundaleer Jamestown 1898
Kalyra Belair
Goode, Durrant & Co warehouse Adelaide
Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission Parafield
Baptist hall Unley Park
Tivoli Theatre Adelaide 1912
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Firms or Professional Partnerships

Name Dates Worked
D. Williams c.1880-1889 
Williams & Good 1889-1926 
Williams & Son 1927-c.1928 
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Bibliographic Sources

Name

PUBLISHED
Books
Boothby’s South Australian Directory (various dates from 1880), J. Williams, Adelaide.
Page, M. (1986) Sculptors in Space: South Australian Architects 1836-1986, RAIA (SA), Adelaide.
Freeland, J.M. (1971) The Making of a Profession: A History of the Growth and Work of the Architectural Institutes in Australia, Angus and Robertson in association with the RAIA, Sydney.

Newspapers
‘A City Improvement’, Register, 23 December 1915, p.4.
‘A Generous Public. Provides Blind Institution Building’, Register, 23 January 1915, p.10.
‘Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission. The Colton Building’, Advertiser, 29 November 1897, p.7.
‘Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission’, Advertiser, 9 August 1899, p.9.
‘Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission’, South Australian Register, 17 June 1897, p.10.
‘An Epoch in Adelaide Building. James Marshall & Co’s New Additions’, Register, 1 April 1908, p.11.
‘Another Large Motor Works’, Register, 21 May 1926, p.15.
‘Baptist Church Norton Summit’, South Australian Advertiser, 26 April 1882, p.4.
‘Church Intelligence. S. Columba’s Parish Hall’, Advertiser, 21 March 1905, p.8.
‘Church Intelligence. Unley Park Baptist Church’, Advertiser, 10 December 1917, p.11.
‘Church Intelligence’, Advertiser, 12 June 1903, p.7.
‘Family Notices’, Advertiser, 1 September 1952, p.16.
‘Henry Berry & Co.’, Advertiser, 29 June 1914, p.18.
‘Institute of Architects’, Advertiser, 1 November 1912, p.10.
‘Institute of Architects’, Advertiser, 31 October 1913, p.18.
‘Kyre College’, Register, 26 May 1909, p.8.
‘Magill Baptist Church’, Register, 5 July 1924, p.4.
‘Majestic Theatre’, Register, 27 May 1916, p.7.
‘Marriages’, South Australian Register, 2 April 1884, p.4.
‘Messrs. Goode, Durrant, & Co.’, Advertiser, 5 June 1905, p.9.
‘Minda’, Advertiser, 9 February 1903, p.3.
‘New Baptist Church at Wayville’, Advertiser, 29 January 1895, p.6.
‘New Building for Minda’, Register, 24 February 1904, p.4.
‘New Building on Waymouth Street’, Advertiser, 13 November 1920, p.10.
‘Obituary’, Advertiser, 3 March 1926, p.19.
‘Out Among the People’, Advertiser, 31 December 1941, p.9.
‘Personal’, Advertiser, 22 April 1913, p.8.
‘Philanthropic’, South Australian Register, 9 August 1899, p.10.
‘Private Casualty Advices’, Advertiser, 15 June 1943, p.3.
‘The Art of Architects’, Mail, 26 June 1915, p.1.
‘The Kalyra Sanitorium’, Advertiser, 20 February 1905, p.8.
‘The New Tivoli Theatre’, Advertiser, 19 June 1913, p.19.
‘The New Tivoli Theatre’, Advertiser, 19 June 1913, p.19.
‘The Rhodes Scholarship. Mr F.E. Williams Selected’, Advertiser, 8 December 1914, p.6.
‘Warehouse Additions’, Register, 14 July 1910, p.6.
‘Wesleyan Church’, South Australian Advertiser, 26 April 1882, p.5.
‘Work in Progress. What the Architects are doing’, Mail, 21 June 1913, p.2.

Other
South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society (2006) South Australian Deaths – Index of Registrations 1916-1972, South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society, Adelaide.
Statton, J. (ed) (1986) Biographical index of South Australians 1836-1885, South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society, Marden.
South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society (1997) South Australian Births Index of registrations, 1842-1906, South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society.

ELECTRONIC
Websites
Michael W. Young, 'Williams, Francis Edgar (1893-1943)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition, 2006, Australian National University, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120559b.htm
National Archives Australia, ‘Fact sheet 235-Francis Edgar Williams, anthropologist of Papua’. Online at:
http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs235.aspx. Accessed 26 March 2011.
‘North Bundaleer’. Online at: http;//www.northbundaleer.com.au/about_history.htm. Accessed 11 March 2011.

Other
Willis (1998) South Australian Architects Biography Project, University of South Australia, CD ROM, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia.

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