Nahum Barnet

Nahum Barnet (16 August 1855 – 1 September 1931) was an architect working in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia during the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

Barnet was born in the Melbourne Hospital on Swanston Street, the son of a Polish-born pawnbroker, jeweller and tobacconist. He was an active member of Melbourne's Jewish community, serving on many committees and often writing letters to the Jewish press.

Barnet was a successful and prolific architect, emerging in the 1880s with major works, and unlike some other boom era architects, practiced again after 1900, producing some of this most original and attractive designs. He worked in a range of styles and on a wide range of buildings, but is best known for his extensive legacy of commercial buildings in Melbourne's CBD.

Barnet first came to attention in the early 1880s, advocating a new approach to Australian architecture. For instance, he submitted a letter to the Argus in 1880 detailing his views that the then ubiquitous stucco and Renaissance styles should be abandoned in favour of a colourful, new style using materiality such as terracotta, faïence and tiles, though his own work was never quite that radical.

Major works include Rosaville, an unusual and highly decorated two storey terrace in Carlton (1883), the Renaissance Revival style Her Majesty's Theatre (1886), the Queen Anne Austral Building (1891) in Collins Street, the Romanesque / Queen Anne Alston's Corner (1904), the Edwardian Baroque Empire Building (1905) on Flinders Street, the unusual red brick Wertheim Piano Factory (later used as the studios for television station GTV-9) in inner suburban Richmond (1909), the Romanesque / Queen Anne Auditorium Building (1913), the Gothic Revival Francis & Co Chemist at 280-282 Bourke Street (1913), and his last work, the Melbourne Synagogue (1929) in South Yarra.

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