Author(s): Ian Bowman

Architecture

William Beatson was a London architect who emigrated to Nelson in 1851. He was trained at the Royal Academy, he was one of the first qualified architects “in a colony where every carpenter calls himself an Architect”.

After an unsuccessful venture into farming, he practised for the following 15 years where he designed many of Nelson’s first churches, commercial buildings, houses, and college. He brought with him contemporary ideas and standards of architectural design and construction in a period when most building was of an impermanent and makeshift nature.

The book covers his early training, contemporary architectural thought, the early settlement of Nelson, and the buildings he designed which helped established a sense of familiarity and permanence to the new colony.

Having been used to construction in brick and stone, he had to adapt to the use of timber.

Having married into an architectrural family with his father-in-law and brother-in-law both architects, Beatson began an architecural dynasty with each suceeding generation having at least one architect.