Alfred Wells (architect)

Alfred Wells (16 May 1859 – 8 December 1935) was an architect in South Australia.

Alfred was born at Marryatville, Adelaide, a son of Percy Wells and his wife Caroline (1831–1901). He was educated at Thomas Caterer's school in Norwood.^[1]

In 1871 the family returned to England aboard the Yatala, which was wrecked off the coast of France en route, but without loss of life. He undertook further schooling in Surrey, then studied architecture in London, returning to Adelaide in 1879.

Wells soon found employment with the Engineer-in-Chief's Department under H. C. Mais. He worked for a time with Edmund Wright before returning to the Architect-in-Chief's Department under E. J. Woods, then with Ernest H. Bayer and Latham A. Withall.^[2]

In 1885 Bayer left the partnership and Wells took his place. Withall and Wells were in 1885 responsible for two of Adelaide's outstanding structures: the Adelaide Arcade and the Jubilee Exhibition Building (demolished c. 1965), both of which sported ornamental domes.

In 1888 Withall and his family left for Britain,^[3] never to return, and Wells ran the business alone, designing for the Adelaide Children's Hospital (now Women's and Children's Hospital) two structures which still stand: the heritage-listed Allan Campbell and the Angas Buildings.^[4][5][6]

In 1897 he was commissioned to design St Columba's Anglican Church on Napier Road (now Cross Rd) in Hawthorn, which he did in a neo-Gothic style. The church was built in 1898.^[7][8]

Other high-profile buildings for which he was responsible were:^[4]

• the original single-storey building for the Adelaide Electric Supply Company in 1901 on the corner of Grenfell Street and East Terrace (now Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute)
• Brookman Building(s) on Grenfell Street (now the site of the Grenfell Centre^[9])
• Norwood Town Hall (still standing)
• Ayuntamiento de Thebarton, Thebarton (construido a partir de 1885, devastado por un incendio en 1948, cuya reconstrucción y restauración fueron descritas como "absolutamente horribles" en 1999 ^{[ 10 ]} )
• Hotel South Australian en North Terrace (donde se alojaron The Beatles en 1964; demolido para dar paso al Hotel Stamford Plaza en 1971 ^{[ 9 ]} )

Wells se jubiló en 1926 y murió en el Hospital Memorial de North Adelaide en 1935. ^{[ 11 ]}

Fue concejal de la ciudad de St. Peters y, al igual que su padre, fue un destacado masón .

Wells se casó con Gertrude E. Pollock (¿3 de diciembre de 1860? – 8 de enero de 1946) el 29 de agosto de 1883, viviendo en "Rathmines" en Collinswood ; tuvieron dos hijos y dos hijas:

• Alfred Cuthbert Wells (1884 – 30 de diciembre de 1952) se casó con Angelica Leslie Pooler (1888–) el 30 de julio de 1910.
• Geoffrey Erskine Wells (22 de enero de 1891 – 6 de octubre de 1917), como capitán Wells de la 2.ª Fuerza Imperial Australiana (2nd AIF) , murió en combate en Bélgica.
• (Marjorie) Gertrude Wells (25 de enero de 1888 – ) se casó con John Digby Yeatman MM (c. enero de 1890 – ) el 25 de septiembre de 1920. En un momento dado heredó un cuadro de Whistler , ^{[ 12 ]} posteriormente adquirido por la Galería de Arte de Australia Meridional ^{[ 13 ].}
• Audrey Hall Wells (7 de julio de 1897 – 24 de octubre de 1953) se casó con el capitán Oscar William Chalker MC (27 de julio de 1894 – 10 de diciembre de 1953) el 20 de septiembre de 1927 y residieron en Oak Lodge, Mount Lofty. Él falleció a causa de una lesión en la parte posterior de la cabeza, presumiblemente accidental.

• "Alfred Wells". UniSA Architects Database.