Edmund Blacket - Architectural Influences and Development

Architectural Influences and Development

In England, towards the end the 18th century, architecture was dominated by the simple symmetrical Classical forms of Georgian architecture. This style was transported to Sydney along with the first English settlers and the accompanying military regiments. However, among England's elite there was a growing taste for the picturesque Gothic style. This too was introduced to Australia, and Sydney's convict architect, Francis Greenway, employed it in the construction of the Government Stables with battlements and towers.

Changes within the Church of England and an academic interest in the historic styles promoted the formation of the Oxford Architectural Society and the Cambridge Camden Society which, though differing in their philosophies, both promoted the medieval styles—Gothic in particular—as being those suitable for church architecture and its correct liturgical function. The purpose of the architect was seen as being to create designs of such archaeological correctness that they reproduced the styles of ecclesiastical architecture prior to the Reformation, as is demonstrated in the work of the renowned Augustus Welby Pugin.

On his arrival in Sydney, Blacket possessed a small library of architectural books, and he kept abreast of the latest trends by subscribing to journals. Although there were a number of buildings with Gothic details in the colony at the time, in particular the existing south transept of the new cathedral, these structures had strongly Classical elements beneath their medieval detailing. Blacket was the first architect in Australia who truly understood the principles of the Gothic style and who could design a church that would satisfy the august societies of Oxford and Cambridge. Since it was the wish of so many colonials, not the least of whom was the Bishop, to assuage their homesickness by at least attending a church that reminded them of one in Cornwall, Yorkshire or East Anglia, Edmund Blacket was to become a very popular man.

Although probably at his best when designing in the Medieval ecclesiastic styles and the Florentine palazzo style which he employed for commercial premises, Blacket followed the trends of Victorian architecture in London through his subscription and library membership. Some of his later churches, particularly those in brick, were to have a robust quality, often with Early French Gothic rose windows with plate tracery or a simple quatrefoil. Blacket quickly adopted the colonial Georgian form of domestic architecture, to which he then applied a variety of details. He was also introduced to the architectural trends in both North America and Scotland by John Horbury Hunt and James Barnet respectively. From the 1870s his commercial and domestic buildings began to acquire eclectic details and incised ornament.