Robert Lawson (architect) - Disgrace

Disgrace

The 1882 exhibition in Christchurch provided a stepping stone in Lawson's career. Following the death of Benjamin Mountfort, who had monopolised the new city's architecture, Lawson was commissioned to design the exhibition halls which led to the important and prestigious commission of designing the Opera House. This period was to be the pinnacle of Lawson's success and prestige in his lifetime. The commission that was the accolade of his success, the design of New Zealand's largest single structure and Lawson's most flamboyant design, was simultaneously to become the cause of his downfall and loss of reputation.

Between 1874 and 1884 Lawson worked on the design and construction of the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, designed to house five-hundred patients and fifty staff. On its completion it was New Zealand's largest building. Old photographs show a huge, grandiose building loosely in the Gothic style, but with an almost Neuschwanstein quality. It was later said of the design that "the Victorians might not have wanted their lunatics living with them, but they liked to house them grandly". Architecturally this was Lawson at his most exuberant, extravagant and adventurous: Otago Boys High School seems almost severe and restrained in comparison. Turrets on corbels project from nearly every corner; the gabled roof line is dominated by a mammoth tower complete with further turrets and a spire. The vast edifice contained four and a half million bricks made of local clay on site, and was 225 metres long by 67 metres (740 by 220 feet) wide. The great tower, actually designed so that the inmates could be observed should they attempt to escape, was almost 50 metres (160 ft) tall.

Structural problems within the building began to manifest themselves even before completion. Finally in 1887 a major landslip occurred which rendered the north wing unsafe; the problems with the design could no longer be ignored.

In 1888 an enquiry into the collapse was set up. In February, realising that he may be in legal trouble, Lawson applied to the enquiry to be allowed counsel to defend him. During the enquiry all involved in the construction — including the contractor, the head of the Public Works Department, the projects clerk of works and Lawson himself — were forced to give evidence to support their competence; however, it was the architect on whom the ultimate responsibility fell, and who incurred the disgrace when the enquiry publicised their findings. Lawson was found both "negligent and incompetent". New Zealand was at this time suffering an economic recession and Lawson found himself virtually unemployable. After a short period assisting the Wellington architect William Turnbull in 1890, he returned to Melbourne.