JJ Clark: An Architectural Prodigy

The Treasury Building was the first of many major government buildings designed by John James Clark. He was commissioned to design the building in 1857, at the age of nineteen.

Born in Liverpool, England in 1838, Clark arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1852. He immediately obtained work as a draftsman with the public works department, and received his first commission in 1856, for the Government Printing Office. Clark toured Europe through 1858 to study Classical and Italian Renaissance architecture, and his completed designs for the Treasury Building reflect his passion for the style.

Clark’s many subsequent buildings in Melbourne, country Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand bear his signature style of elaborate ornamentation, grounded in Classical principals of proportion and balance.

A devoted and tireless practitioner, Clark died in 1915, having never retired. His architectural legacy is among the most distinguished in Australia.

During his lifetime JJ Clark worked on the following buildings:

MELBOURNE

The Government Printing Office, 1856
The Old Treasury Building, 1858
The Royal Mint, 1871
The Titles Office, 1874
The Supreme Court, 1874
Government House, 1874
The Customs House, 1876
The Kew Mental Hospital
The Port Melbourne Post Office
The City Baths, 1903
The Queen Victoria Hospital, 1912

VICTORIA

The Geelong Customs House
The Geelong Supreme Court
The Ballarat National Mutual Building, 1904
The Beechworth Mental Hospital
The Ararat Mental Hospital
The Sale Court House
The Rutherglen Court House
The Bright Post Office
The Castlemaine Post Office
The Yackandandah Post Office
The Kilmore Post Office

NEW SOUTH WALES

The Sydney Public Library
The Waverley Town Hall
The Maitland Hospital, 1903
The Newcastle Hospital
The Orange Town Hall
The Wagga Wagga Town Hall

QUEENSLAND

The Brisbane Treasury Building, 1885
The Brisbane Masonic Hall
The Brisbane Central Railway Station, 1901
The Brisbane Children’s Hospital, 1894
The Booroodabin Public Baths, 1895
Gympie Town Hall
Warwick Town Hall
Maryborough Railway Station
Townsville Railway Station, 1910
Townsville Post and Telegraph Office, 1885
Townsville Hospital, 1885
Charters Towers Court House, 1885
Mackay Court House, 1885

WEST AUSTRALIA

Perth Royal Children’s Hospital, 1898
Perth St Andrews Presbyterian Church, 1897
Fremantle Town Hall, 1897

NEW ZEALAND

Auckland Town Hall, 1907
Auckland Supreme Court
Christchurch Court House