Evander McIver (1834 – 28 June 1902) was an Australian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. McIver is best known for a number of

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, mostly Presbyterian churches he designed in Melbourne, Australia, during the "boom" era of the 1880s.

Early life

Evander McIver was born in 1835 in

Assynt Assynt ( gd, Asainn or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with ...

, in the north west of Scotland. He was the son of a crofter and mason, Kenth McIver. Evander initially trained as a

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

then the manager of the Duke of Sutherland’s estates, recognised his talent and assisted him to be trained in architectural studies.''Half-drowned or Half-baked: Essays in the history of North Fitzroy'', p.116, citing Julie Selmon, ‘Evander McIver’ (BArch undergraduate thesis, University of Melbourne 1987). edited by Miles Lewis for the Fitzroy Historical Society and City of Yarra 2017
/ref> He later became an

and worked at

Inverness, Scotland Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Historic ...

before migrating to Australia in 1864 aboard the ''

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

'' when he was about 30. McIver lived in Park Street, Brunswick and was a prominent member of St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Brunswick where a memorial plaque to him is placed on the west wall of the church).

Career

McIver appears to have begun his career as Clerk and Surveyor for the Broadmeadows District Roads Board in 1865. In the following year he may have designed the bluestone and granite office building for the Board, which stands in Ardlie Street West Meadows. as well as secretary and engineer to the shire of Broadmeadows, he was also consulting engineer to the municipalities of Brunswick, Essendon, Flemington and Kensington, and North Melbourne. As an engineer he was responsible for the Moonee Ponds Creek Bridge in Fawkner Street Westmeadows in 1869, and the Bell Street Bridge in Coburg in 1880. In 1872 McIver called tenders for a bluestone tower at the Glenara homestead in Bulla which had been designed by

Albert Purchas Albert Purchas (1825 – 1909) was a prominent 19th century architect and surveyor in Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Early life Albert Purchas was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales in 1825, the son of Robert Whittlesey Purcha ...

. A major commission was the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Sydney Rd, Brunswick in 1880. This was followed by a polychrome brick church in the form of the South Essendon (Primitive) Methodist Church in Mt Alexander Road, Essendon in 1882 and St Andrews Presbyterian Church Kerang. Rare examples of his domestic commissions are the villa ''Doneraile'' in Camberwell, which is "a prototype for the emerging Federation villa", and ‘Tiri-Tiri’ at 46 Kyarra Road, Glen Iris One of his few works outside Victoria was the

Scots Uniting Church Scots Uniting Church, originally known as the Scots Presbyterian Church, is a church in Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The church is located on York Street the main street through the centre of Albany. It is almost ...

in Albany Western Australia. In 1887 McIver had offices in the Western Market Buildings, 439 Collins Street Melbourne and in the 1890s he had an office on the 5th floor of the Australian Buildings at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Lane in Melbourne.

Major works

* 1874 Brick and Stone Bridge over Merri Creek Northcote * 1879 Union Memorial Presbyterian Church, Curzon & Elm Sts. North Melbourne (competition winner) * 1884 Presbyterian Church, Park Street, West Brunswick * 1887 Presbyterian Church, Kew * 1887 St Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church, Brighton * 1887 Presbyterian Church, Clifton Hill * 1887 Presbyterian Manse, Dandenong (demolished) * 1888 Stanhope Mansion, Holmes Rd, Moonee Ponds * 1890-1 Residence and stabling, Brunswick * 1892 Brick Presbyterian Church, Clifton Hill * 1893 Rebuilding of Junction Hotel, Tullamarine * 1896 Manse of Brunswick Presbyterian Church, Park St. West Brunswick. * 1900 Presbyterian Church, Ngambie, red brick

Personal life

McIver was a staunch member of the Presbyterian Church, and a well known and respected resident of

Brunswick, Victoria Brunswick is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek Local government areas of Victoria, local gov ...

. He was married three times, with his third wife, Margaret Williams (1857–1934) surviving him along with several children by his second and third wives. He was first married in 1864 to Catherine Ann Clunas (1839–1874). and McIver then married (Mary Louisa Buzaglo),The North Melbourne Advertiser, Saturday 3 March 1888, page 2. daughter of William Frederick Buzaglo, the secretary of the Shire of Coburg. When Mary died, he dedicated a stained glass window in the Brunswick Presbyterian Church to her, which reads "In Sacred Memory of Mary Louisa Buzaglo, the beloved wife of Evander McIver – a dutiful daughter, and affectionate sister, a faithful friend, a devoted mother, a loving wife, a consistent Christian. Died 1st October, 1887". He lived out his retirement in his home 'Glen-Iver' in a grand two storey Italianate villa in Park Street, Brunswick, which he designed and still stands. He died on 28 June 1902 at his home and was buried at the

Melbourne General Cemetery The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North. The cemetery is notably the resting place of four Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other nec ...

. His son Gordon John Kennedy McIver was a prominent surgeon in World War 1.The Medical Journal of Australia, Volume 15 Australasian Medical Publishing Company, 1921

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIver, Evander 1834 births 1902 deaths 19th-century Australian architects 20th-century Australian architects Architects from Melbourne Burials at Melbourne General Cemetery People from Brunswick, Victoria People from Sutherland Gothic Revival architects Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia