Robert Arthur Lawson (1 January 1833 – 3 December 1902) was one of New Zealand's pre-eminent 19th century architects. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography states that he did more than any other designer to shape the face of the Victorian era architecture of the city of Dunedin. He is the architect of over forty churches, including Dunedin's First Church for which he is best remembered, but also other buildings, such as Larnach Castle, a country house, with which he is also associated.
Born at Newburgh, in Fife, Scotland, he emigrated in 1854 to Australia and then in 1862 to New Zealand. He died aged 69 in Canterbury, New Zealand. Lawson is acclaimed for his work in both the Gothic revival and classical styles of architecture. He was prolific, and while isolated buildings remain in Scotland and Australia, it is in the Dunedin area that most surviving examples can now be found.
Today he is held in high esteem in his adopted country. However, at the time of his death his reputation was at a low ebb following the partial collapse of his Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, at the time New Zealand's largest building. In 1900, shortly before his death, he returned to New Zealand from a self-imposed, ten-year exile to re-establish his name, but his sudden demise prevented a full rehabilitation of his reputation. The great plaudits denied him in his lifetime were not to come until nearly a century after his death, when the glories of Victorian architecture began again to be recognised and appreciated.
Lawson was born on 1 January 1833 at 49 Hoggs Place, Abbyhill in the village of Grange of Lindores in the parish of Abdie near Newburgh, Fife, Scotland. He was the fourth child of Margaret (nee Arthur) and James Lawson, a carpenter and sawmiller. Lawson was educated at the Abdie parish school.
Lawson must have shown an interest in architecture or promise in drawing for he was articled at the age of 15 to architect Andrew Heiton Snr. of Heiton and Heiton in Perth (Scotland). After a short time he was transferred to and completed his apprenticeship under James Gillespie Graham who was a leading architect in Edinburgh. While with Graham he furthered his school education at "Trustees Academy". Lawson then worked as an assistant architect with John Lessels, where he was credited with the design of a college and two mansions.
At the age of 21, Lawson armed only with a letter of introduction to one of brother's friend residing in Melbourne he boarded the ship Tongataboo on 15 July 1854, arriving in the city on 1 November in that same year. Like other new arrivals in Australia, he tried many new occupations over the next two years on various goldfields tried goldmining before eventually settling in the town of Steiglitz where as well as remaining involved in gold mining activities he became the agent for the Melbourne newspaper The Argus and for whom it is believed he also acted as its local correspondent. During this period he occasionally turned his hand to architecture, designing the Free Church school and in 1858 a Catholic school. He was also involved in assessing and share broking. By 1859 he was secretary of the Steiglitz Prospecting & Mining Company and then its managing director until it was wound up in late 1861. As Lawson came to realise the low probability of success in the gold rush and the precariousness of and by the end of 1861 had moved to Melbourne with the intention of resuming a full-time career in architecture.
In 1861, the first Otago gold rush brought an influx of people to southern New Zealand, including a new generation of emigrants. To service the rapidly expanding population of the region's principal settlement , the 13 year old town of Dunedin the Descon's Court of the presbytery of Otago decided now was the time to build a permanent Presbyterian church to serve as its principal place of worship.
In the January 1862 they announced a competition with a prize of £50 to select a suitable design what was to become First Church. Lawson heard about the competition either from his younger brother John Lawson who had already emigrated to Otago or via a copy of the Otago Daily Times that had found their way to Melbourne. He decided to enter the competition and was able to submit from Melbourne a set of drawing under the pseudonym of "Presbyter" by the closing date of 15 March 1862. If this pseudonym was designed to catch the eye of the Presbyterian judges, it was well chosen: his design was successful.
As a result of winning the commission to design First Church Lawson was able in 1862 to move to Dunedin and open an architectural practice. During the construction of First Church Lawson built up his practice with commissions obtained to design other churches, public buildings, and houses in the vicinity.
During the 1870s and 1880s Dunedin rose to be the dominant commercial centre in New Zealand largely due to the wealth generated by gold mining. This was in turn reflected in the number of new buildings being constructed. These commissions ensured that the 1870s in particular were Lawson's most productive. This was despite him suffering from ill health which required him to spend two months in Melbourne in 1873 and later in 1874.
As he had no partners to share the workload his practice employed a number of young architects, including Thomas Forrester, Percy W. Laing and James-Louis Salmond (from 1888) who later went on to establish their own practices. There are no records to suggest that Lawson entered into any partnerships until a brief relationship with Christchurch architect Thomas Lambert in 1889. In 1876 Lawson was involved in the formation of the Dunedin institute of Civil engineers and Architects, which was intended to counter the competition from employees of the Otago Provincial Council eventually went out of existence by the early 1880s.
By the late 1870s following on from the booms bought by the goldfields and then the Vogel Public Works Scheme New Zealand entered a severe economic recession (precipitated by the collapse of the City Bank of Glasgow in 1878) which lasted into the early 1890s and came to be known as the "long depression". In the winters there was visible hardship and distress and people began to leave in particular to Australia, where Melbourne experienced a boom in the 1880s. Dunedin began to stagnate which caused Lawson's commissions to change from commercial and industrial clients to predominantly residential. There were however a number of important commissions, among them churches at Gore (1881), Kaihkiki, Riversdale (1881), an office building for Martin and Watson (1882). A prestigious commission was that for the Otago boy's High School, construction of which commenced in July 1882.
His peers were also affected by the lack of work with his Dunedin based rival David Ross as well as Frederick Burrell in Invercargill both departing for Australia.
In 1875 the Otago Provincial Council decided to replace the existing Dunedin Lunatic Asylum on the site of what later became the Otago Boys High School with a new one on an existing government reserve at Seacliff 25 km from Dunedin. Once the council was abolished in 1876 responsibility for the complex passed to the Public Works Department, who had a policy that for any building of magnitude a private architect should be employed. Accordingly with regard to Seacliff, William Blair who was Engineer in Charge of the Middle Island (South Island) entered into communication with the Minister for Public Works who authorised him to communicate with Lawson. Blair had been chairman of the building committee for the Knox Church and had been influential in obtaining for Lawson the design of both that building and the later Otago Boys High School. After a meeting between Blair and Lawson, the architect was formally requested by letter to undertake the work, Lawson replied on 17 July 1878 accepting the commission. Lawson's only previous experience with designing such a building had been that of the Dunedin Benevolent Institution in the 1860s. Lawson decided to design the building in the Scottish Baronial style.