Allan, George

ALLAN, George(1856–1932), architect and quantity surveyor, was born at Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Scotland, second son of William Allan, a joiner, and Margaret Paterson. By 1871, he was apprenticed to an architect, probably at Elgin, Moray near where he was living with his elder sister, Margaret. In 1881, he married Agnes Foreman Aitken at Dunedin, NZ, where three of their children were born before he moved first to Melbourne by June 1889 where his work included the Hawthorne Presbyterian Church (1891) in a “very advanced Romanesque style”, and then to Western Australia where George Allan joined the Western Australian Works Department in April 1895. He retired as Chief Inspector of Construction and Maintenance in June 1923. For the last eighteen months he was Acting Chief Architect while WB Hardwick (1860-1941) was preoccupied with Commonwealth Works. He died at Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia in 1932. He was a Fellow of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. George Allan has been confused with George Frederick Allan, an architect who was briefly in Queensland in the late 1880s but for whom little in yet known.

Employment

1886-

Surveyor's Department, Shoreditch Council

1895-

Western Australia Works Dept, Perth

1922-

Acting Chief Architect, Western Australia Works Dept, Perth

-1923

Retired as Chief Inspector of Construction and Maintenance

Self-employment:

1889-

Melbourne, Vic

Competitions:

1891

Presbyterian Church, Hawthorne, Melbourne

Education

-1871-

Architect’s apprentice, Elgin, Moray, Scotland

Qualifications/Memberships:

FRVIA, Melbourne

Migration and Travel

-1881

Dunedin, NZ.

1889

To Melbourne

1895

To WA

Genealogy

[F] William Allan (1821–1903) b. 9 July 1821, Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire, Scotland; d. 5 June 1903, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland

[S, 10 Aug 1845, Shotts, Lanarkshire / M] Margaret Paterson (1824–1897) b. 9 June 1824, Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. 28 Jan 1897, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland.

[6C/1-3G] Margaret Allan (1848–?) b. 9 July 1848, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. ?
[6C/1-3B] William Allan (1853–?) b. 1853, Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. ?
[6C/2-3B]George ALLAN(1856–1932) b. 1 July 1856, Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Scotland; d. 28 Feb 1932, Subiaco, WA.
[S, 24 Jan 1881 • Dunedin, Otago, NZ / M] Agnes Foreman Aitken (1857–1940) b. 3 Mar 1857, Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland; d. 4 Dec 1940, Subiaco, WA.
[5C/1-4B] William Paterson Allan (1882–1945) b. 8 Jan 1882, Dunedin, Otago, NZ; d. 4 Mar 1945, Kalgoorlie, WA.
[5C/G] Marion Henderson Allan (1883–1973) b. 14 Sep 1883, Dunedin, Otago, NZ; d. 1 May 1973, Glen Forest, WA.
[5C/2-4B] John Aitken Allan (1885–1970) b. 6 Sep 1885, Dunedin, Otago, NZ; d. 4 Dec 1970, Box Hill, Vic.
[5C/3-4B] George Stewart Allan (1890–1943) b. 1890, Balwyn, Vic.; d. 27 Aug 1943, Northam, WA.
[5C/4-4B] Lindsay Gordon Allan (1893–1978) b. 24 June 1893, Vic.; d. 4 Dec 1978, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

References

Miles Lewis (ed) Victorian Churches, Melbourne, 1991, 73; RVIAJ: Sept 1923, 104-5 and May 1933, 41; Sunday Times (Perth), 8 July 1923, 3; West Australian, 8 Aug 1924, 11; Daily News (Perth), 29 Feb 1932, 4.

Portrait:

1923 [George Allan] Sunday Times (Perth) 8 July 1923, 3.