Name

McKinnon and Hamilton

Type

Builder

Biography

John Alexander McKinnon (d. 1937) and John Leitch Hamilton (d. 1927) were Dunedin contractors active in the early and mid-twentieth century. Their major projects include Invercargill’s First Presbyterian Church (1910-1915) and People’s Picture Palace (1914; E.W. Walden, architect). In Dunedin, their projects include the Roberts Building at 99 Stuart Street (1903-1904, J.A. Burnside, architect), school at Fairfax (1909). They won the 1911 contract for erecting the Tapanui Hospital.

Name

Sefton, Arthur

Type

Builder

Biography

Arthur Sefton was a bricklayer whose major commission was the First Presbyterian Church of Invercargill. Sefton arrived in New Zealand from Britain in 1909 and settled in Invercargill. He also built the Catholic Convent in Tyne Street, a number of dairy factories, the Nurses' Home and the police station, all in and around Invercargill.

Name

Ford Gray & Derbie

Type

Builder

Biography

Ford Gray & Derbie was an Invercargill based architectural practice active around the 1950s. The practice was involved in extensions and additions to All Saints Church and its hall, as well as the Invercargill Club. (NZHPT Registration Report, All Saints Anglican Church and Parish Hall, 16 May 2011).

Name

Mair, John Thomas

Type

Architect

Biography

John Thomas Mair (1876-1959) was born in Invercargill and began his career with the New Zealand Railways on the staff of the Office Engineer, George Troup. In 1906 he travelled to the United States of America where he studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked in the office of George B. Post in New York before travelling to England where he was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He became a Fellow in 1940. On his return to New Zealand he entered private practice, one of his first buildings being the Presbyterian First Church, Invercargill (1915), a prominent building of Romanesque character. He then practised in Wellington, carrying out largely domestic commissions. In 1918 he was appointed Inspector of Military Hospitals by the Defence Department, and in 1920 he became architect to the Department of Education. Following the retirement of John Campbell in 1922, Mair was appointed Government Architect, a position which he held until his retirement in 1942. During this period he was responsible for a variety of buildings, including the Courthouse, Hamilton, the Post Office in High Street, Christchurch, Government Life Office and the Departmental Building, both in Wellington, and the Jean Batten Building, Auckland. Such buildings show a departure from tradition, with the emphasis on function, structure and volume as opposed to a stylistic treatment of the building fabric. A Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Mair was made a Life Member in 1942. His son John Lindsay Mair also practised as an architect.