Mortimer Lewis

Mortimer William Lewis (1796 – 9 March 1879) was an English-born architect, surveyor and public servant who migrated to Australia and became Colonial Architect in the state of New South Wales from 1835 to 1849. Lewis was responsible for designing and overseeing many government buildings in Sydney and rural New South Wales, many of which are heritage listed.

Lewis was born in Middlesex, London in 1796, to Thomas Arundel Lewis and Caroline Lewis (nee Derby) At the age of nineteen, he started work as a surveyor and draughtsman in the London office of the Inspector General of Fortifications. In 1819, he married Elizabeth Clements, who bore him three sons and a daughter. Another son was to be born later in Sydney, Australia. Lewis lived in the Eyre Estate at 11 South Bank, near St Johns Wood. After eight years in private practice, Lewis received an appointment as assistant surveyor in the office of surveyor-general of New South Wales. He set sail with his family in 1829 and arrived in Sydney in March, 1830.

Lewis arrived in Sydney via Hobart on 1 April 1830 as a free settler aboard the convict ship the Dunvegan Castle, which left Britain on 28 September 1829.

From 1830 Lewis worked in the office of surveyor-general of New South Wales under Sir Thomas Mitchell, and during this time mapped the Great Dividing Range, 130 kilometres west of Sydney. Lewis was appointed to be the Town Surveyor; in 1835 he was further promoted to the position of Colonial Architect which he held for 14 years during a period of great expansion.

A long series of public works throughout New South Wales followed, including court houses, police stations and government buildings. Lewis also supervised the construction of buildings designed by other architects, a notable example being Government House designed in England by Edward Blore. Lewis became the leading proponent in Australia of the Classical Revival style, in particular the Doric variation, although he did not exclusively design in this style.

Lewis's post as Colonial Architect ended sourly after a public controversy concerning the construction of Sydney’s first museum. In the late 1840s he began designing Sydney's first museum, which would later be absorbed into the present Australian Museum. The project experienced substantial cost overruns during construction and Lewis was heavily criticised by both the press and politicians. The museum was completed, but an official inquiry blamed Lewis and he was forced to resign as Colonial Architect in 1849, after twenty nine years in retirement, Lewis died of a kidney ailment in 1930.

...
Wikipedia