| History | Jack McConnell was one of the leading exponents of modern architecture to work in South Australia and the eastern states. His award winning buildings mark the first phase of modern architecture in Adelaide. McConnell’s professional education as an architect began in 1930 at Melbourne University. Whilst he was studying architecture formally he worked in architects’ offices of Harold Desbrowe-Annear then Leighton Irwin. After graduation he moved to the office of Marcus Martin and subsequently to Edward F. Billson where he was able to design along modernist lines. He was then recruited by Philip R. Claridge, an architect from Adelaide in 1937 to work on the design of the Bank of New South Wales. In 1939 the practice became the partnership of Claridge, Hassell and McConnell. During his early years in Adelaide McConnell’s designs conform to the Interwar Functionalist style. However it was in McConnell’s industrial work designing factories that his functional planning skills developed. Among these were the British Australian Lead Manufacturers Pty. Ltd. (BALM) Paints factory at Port Adelaide (1946), International Harvester Company factories, service and office buildings, across Australia (1948-1950), the W.D. and H.O. Wills factory, at Southwark, South Australia (1948) and the Heinz factory at Dandenong in Victoria (1952-1955). McConnell’s other main area of design expertise was in tertiary education campuses and facilities. Later, in 1970 McConnell was made a partner of Stephenson and Turner and worked in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and overseas until 1980 when he retired. McConnell was active not only in the RAIA but also in the town planning field, and he received many honours and distinctions during his career. |