Derham Groves

A.W. Purnell

  • OUT OF THE ORDINARY: POPULAR ART, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

    My latest book titled, Out of the Ordinary: Popular Art, Architecture and Design, is due to be published in September this year by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The book’s blurb by Andrew Chrystall: Out of the Ordinary is one part unembellished documentation and one part verbi-visual equivalent of a Pro Hart work made with nineteenth-century, paint-loaded Read more

  • A New Clubhouse for the Albert Park Golf Club

    Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by A.W. Purnell Miniature golf hazard by Tim Cameron Albert Park Golf Clubhouse and miniature golf hazard by Yuan-Min Tao Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Gerry De Guzman Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Nur Zainal Abidin Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Avish Mungur Read more

  • The Clubhouse Experiment: Arthur Purnell and the Commonwealth Golf Club

    The above article has just been published in GOLF ARCHITECTURE no. 12, 2010 Read more

  • Forthcoming Talk at the Melbourne Chinese Studies Group

    Next MELBOURNE CHINESE STUDIES GROUP seminar Date: Friday 3 September 2010, 6pm Admission $2   All Welcome Venue: Jenny Florence Room, 3rd Floor, Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne (between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets) Topic: The forgotten Chinese architecture of Arthur Purnell Speaker: Derham Groves Arthur Purnell was an Australian architect who lived and worked in Read more

  • Wattle Path Palais De Danse

    Last week I spoke at the St. Kilda Historical Society’s ‘Memories of St Moritz’ evening at the St. Kilda Public Library. The St. Moritz ice skating rink was a famous St. Kilda landmark. However, the building was originally a dance hall called the Wattle Path Palais De Danse, which was designed by Arthur Purnell in Read more

  • Barlow Motors

    Purnell’s 1924 sketch of Barlow Motors, 20 – 28 LaTrobe Street, Melbourne. Newspaper advertisement of 1927 for Barlow Motors. One of the most colourful clients of Melbourne architect Arthur Purnell (1878 – 1964) was Alexander George Barlow (1880 – 1937), a highly innovative—if slightly shady—businessman, who was a pioneer of the car retail industry in Read more

  • Early A.W. Purnell-Designed House For Sale

    One of the first houses—if not the first house—designed by Arthur William Purnell is currently for sale for just under $AUS1,000,000. ‘Tarina’ in Newcombe Street, Portalington, was designed and constructed by Purnell & Sons, Arthur’s father’s firm, for Mr. P.M. Browne, in 1896. Arthur began working for Purnell & Sons only the year before. The Read more

  • Francis Birtles & Alec Barlow

    A.G. Barlow, the proprietor of Barlow Motors, was one of A.W. Purnell’s best and most interesting clients. In 1926 Barlow Motors sponsored Francis Birtles, an Australian adventurer, and Barlow’s son Alec (a.k.a. Alex), an adventurer in his own right, to drive from Darwin to Melbourne. They did the journey in eight days and 13 hours, Read more

  • A New Book About A.W. Purnell

    A very handsome large format book titled The Architectural Arts of A.W. Purnell and the Modern Society of Lingnan has just been published (ISBN 978-7-218-05804-7). It contains essays on Purnell’s architecture by Shi Hongping, Li Suimei, myself, Peng Changxin, Tang Guohua, Lu Qi, Zheng Lipeng, and Ma Wei. It is liberally illustrated with photographs of Read more

  • A.W. Purnell and the Big Business Ball

    This spectacular art deco backdrop was designed by Arthur Purnell for the Big Business Ball at the Melbourne Town Hall. So far I haven’t been able to find out anything about this event, but judging by Purnell’s design it presumably took place in the late 1920s or early 1930s. ADDENDUM Since first posting this item Read more