{{Short description|Scottish born South Australian Architect}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} '''James Macgeorge''' (1832 – 9 December 1918) was a Scottish-born architect in South Australia. He is remembered for erecting South Australia's first telegraph line.
==History== James Macgeorge was born in Scotland, the fifth son of tailor Robert Forsyth Macgeorge (1795–1860) and his wife Elizabeth M. Macgeorge, née Duncan (1801–), who with their family emigrated to South Australia aboard the ''Ariadne'', arriving on 13 August 1839. They developed the property they named "Urr brae", now the suburb known as Urrbrae.
James was educated at the Church of England Collegiate School (predecessor of St Peter's College), where he was an outstanding pupil.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48726389 |title=Church of England Collegiate School |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XII |issue=845 |location=South Australia |date=21 June 1848 |accessdate=18 May 2019 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He started practising as an architect in 1855 and in that year responded to a notice in the ''Gazette'' of 25 January advertising a contest to design a water reticulation scheme for Adelaide, then petitioned for an enquiry when no prize was awarded.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161256204 |title=The Water Supply |newspaper=Adelaide Observer |location=SA |date=5 January 1856 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |page=1 Supplement: Supplement to the Adelaide Observer |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The same year he set about running a telegraph line between the city and Port Adelaide.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158101804 |title=The New Year |newspaper=Adelaide Observer |date=20 January 1855 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> As early as 1853 the Government had voted money to provide such a line but had made no progress; however when Macgeorge sought planning permission it was refused on the grounds of unnecessary duplication.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49294994 |title=The Electric Telegraph |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=28 August 1855 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Macgeorge surmounted these obstacles by avoiding the (government-controlled) railway and main roads, and on 1 December 1855 the line went into service, and performed perfectly. Less than two months later, Charles Todd had, with the greatest expedition, completed the Government line,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49745562 |title=The Telegraph in South Australia |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=18 January 1856 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> a more direct, technically superior, and vastly more expensive affair. A year later, the Government purchased Macgeorge's line and pulled it down. Macgeorge's choice of Green's Exchange had proved more convenient to the public than Todd's and was adopted as the government telegraph office.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49764157 |title=Electric and Magnetic Telegraph |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXI |issue=3222 |location=South Australia |date=2 February 1857 |access-date=20 November 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Between 1853 and 1857 he and brother-in-law John Turner ran a shipping agency, with an office first in Bank Street, then from April 1856, in Currie Street. Following the death of his father in a shipwreck in 1860, James designed and built a house "St Andrews" for himself and his mother, in North Adelaide.
He was a foundation member of the South Australian Society of Arts and its first secretary (1855–1856). Around 1861 he had begun speculating in mining and pastoral property shares and in 1863, following an economic downturn was forced to declare himself insolvent.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50160727 |title=Our Summary |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=25 April 1863 |accessdate=23 February 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> His brother Ebenezer, formerly a surveyor in the Public Works Department, joined him in 1864 and as a partnership had a successful architects' practice.
In December 1880 James Macgeorge left Adelaide for England. He died at Ashford, Kent on 9 December 1918.
==Works== [[File:Maughan Church, Adelaide photograph by Ernest Gall.jpg|thumb|Maughan Church, Adelaide photograph by Ernest Gall, 1896]] *Around 1855 he drew up several designs for a grand residence on the Turretfield estate, Rosedale, near Sandy Creek, for pastoralist Richard Holland. He was sacked by Holland in 1861 and Kingston appointed in his place.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31853426 |title=Law and Criminal Courts |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=9 September 1865 |accessdate=23 February 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *In 1859 Macgeorge won the design competition for the Savings Bank at 18 King William Street, completed in July 1860.<ref name=UniSA>{{cite web|url=http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=68|title=Architects of South Australia: James Macgeorge|publisher=Architecture Museum, University of South Australia|accessdate=24 February 2015}}</ref> *St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Wakefield Street, Adelaide, completed 1865, was designed by him, perhaps after a competition in 1859.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96489345 |title=To the Editor of the Chronicle |newspaper=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=9 July 1859 |accessdate=23 February 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The building stands today, renamed "Willard Hall". *"St Andrews", the residence between Kingston Terrace (121-125) and Stanley Street (222–230), North Adelaide, which he built for his mother around 1862. It was enlarged by architect E. J. Woods for William and David Murray in the 1870s, and purchased by Charles R. J. Glover in 1914.<ref name=UniSA/> *Rebuilding of Cunningham's Bazaar, Rundle Street.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50179610 |title=Improvements to Rundle Street |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=11 April 1863 |accessdate=23 February 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *"Waverly", later "Waverley" at 356-364 South Terrace, Adelaide, built as a residence for pastoralist William Sanders *He designed the residence "Home Park" for fellow member of the "Free Rifles"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164689946 |title=South Australia's First Defenders |newspaper=The Observer |location=Adelaide |date=22 January 1910 |accessdate=24 February 2015 |page=38 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> W. P. Auld, became "La Pérouse" for Edmond Mazure in 1909, later as "Romalo" was for 90 years the home of the Bonython family, which still stands at 24 Romalo Avenue, Magill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campbelltown.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Magill%20Village%20An%20historical%20overview.pdf|title=Magill Village – An historical overview|publisher=Donovan & Associates|date=November 2012|accessdate=24 February 2015|archive-date=24 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324175426/http://campbelltown.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Magill%20Village%20An%20historical%20overview.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Methodist New Connexion Church on Acre 265, Franklin Street, a bluestone church built in 1866 later named Maughan Church for its pioneering minister, James Maughan.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31832519 |title=Religious Intelligence |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=27 January 1864 |accessdate=21 February 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> noted for its unusual brick spire.<ref name=UniSA/> *Congregational Church at Port Adelaide (1867).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41407034 |title=Building Improvements |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=18 January 1869 |accessdate=25 February 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *The Congregational Church at McLaren Vale has been attributed to him.<ref name=UniSA/> *First section of the Congregational Church on Jetty Road, Glenelg has been attributed to him.<ref name=UniSA/> *Macgeorge and his brother designed the Strathalbyn to Port Elliot Railway, opened 1869. *Macgeorge's design for the University of Adelaide's Mitchell Building won a competition in 1876, but was never used; instead, William McMinn was commissioned to produce a new design.<ref name=UniSA/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgeorge, James}} Category:1832 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Settlers of South Australia Category:Architects from South Australia Category:Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Category:19th-century Australian architects Category:Architects from Adelaide Category:Australian emigrants to England Category:People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Category:British emigrants to the Colony of South Australia