Robert Lawson (architect) - Final Years

Final Years

In the final period of his life, following his fall from grace in New Zealand, Lawson rarely designed alone. In Melbourne, he entered into partnership with the architect Frederick Grey. Together they designed Earlsbrae Hall, a large neoclassical house at Essendon, Victoria. This is now considered by some experts to be one of his greatest works. Often said to resemble a Grecian temple, this mansion is actually more closely related in style to the neo-Palladian architecture that evolved in the southern plantation houses of North America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. While Lawson was undoubtedly involved in the design, it is impossible to distinguish his input from that of Grey. As the mansion's foundation stone was laid in 1890, the same year as Lawson's return to Melbourne, it seems likely that Grey had begun to work on the plans before Lawson joined him, especially as the land had been purchased in order to build the mansion two years earlier. There are several touches in the design which are almost certainly Lawson's — the Corinthian portico is similar to that designed by him for the National Bank at Oamaru, but here it is extended and flanked by the two-storeyed verandahs that Lawson used at Larnach Castle. Unlike this earlier construction at Earlsbrea, they are elegantly represented in stone and unglazed. The cost of construction to the owner Collier McCracken was £35,000; it later sold in 1911 for just £6000. Commercial buildings which survive from Lawson's Melbourne years include the Moran and Cato warehouse in Fitzroy and the College Church in Parkville, which were completed in 1897.

In 1900, at the age of 67, Lawson came out of his ten-year-long self-imposed exile from New Zealand and returned to Dunedin. Here he entered into practice with his former pupil J.Louis Salmond. A number of commercial and residential buildings were erected under their joint names, including the brick house known as "Threave" built for Watson Shennan at 367 High Street. This is one of Lawson's last works. Threave has particularly ornate carved verandahs in the Gothic style, but is today better known for its gardens than architecture.

The Lawson–Salmond partnership would not last long. In 1902 Lawson died suddenly at Pleasant Point, Canterbury, on 3 December. By the time of his death he had begun to re-establish his reputation, having been elected vice-president of the Otago Institute of Architects.