Arthur Beckford Polin (23 April 1872 - 21 September 1961) was an Australian architect who practiced in New South Wales and Queensland.

Birth and education

Polin was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

the first son of Elizabeth Rook and Peter Aloysius Polin. He grew up in

Coonamble Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. It is the regional hub for wheat growing and ...

and was educated at

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

, in Sydney. Following school he served his articles with Messrs Tappin and Dennehy, well known ecclesiastical architects. Following study at Sydney Technical College he was employed by John Kirkpatrick, eminent city architect.

Architectural career

Early in his career Polin entered into partnership with

Thomas Tidswell Thomas Tidswell was an Australian architect, notable for his design of sporting facilities in Sydney. Birth and education Tidswell was born in Sydney, the sixth of nine children of hotelier Frederick Squire Tidswell (1831–1898) and his ...

(1870–1950). One of the firm's early works was the design of the Mechanics Institute in

in rural NSW. Another was the enlargement of the Right Rev Dr Higgins, Roman Catholic Auxiliary-Bishop of Sydney’s residence Mount Eagle in Forbes Street Darlington. In 1901 Polin joined Townsville architects Albert Edmund Bates (1862—1929) and George Thomas Eaton in a partnership known as Eaton, Bates & Polin. After 1902 their head office was moved to Brisbane, with branches retained at Rockhampton and Townsville. A branch operated briefly at Toowoomba in the early 1900s. They undertook a wide variety of architectural work, from hotels and commercial buildings to residences, hospitals and masonic halls, and received a number of commissions from the Catholic Church – churches, schools, convents and presbyteries. One of their most glamorous commissions was for the new Queen's Hotel in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

(1901–04). Cremorne at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

in Brisbane (1905–06) was one of their larger residential designs. Their style was eclectic, drawing upon both eastern and western classical traditions, with a particular emphasis on verandahs and pavilions – both as a decorative device and as appropriate to the warm Queensland climate.

Death

Polin died in Sydney in 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polin, Arthur Beckford 1872 births 1961 deaths People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview 20th-century Australian architects