Isidor George Beaver


Isidor George Beaver was an English architect who had a substantial career in Adelaide, South Australia and Melbourne, Victoria. He was also significant in the early history of ice skating in Australia.
His given name was often misspelt as "Isidore", and his surname as "Beavor" or "Beevor", and he was often referred to as J. G. Beaver, even in his own advertisements.

Early life

Isidor George Beaver was born between September and December 1859, the son of watchmaker and jeweller Louis Beaver of Manchester, England, a Jewish émigré from Prussian Poland. He had two sisters, Evelyn and Laura, who migrated to Melbourne and Adelaide respectively before Isidor left England.

Career

19th century

Beaver emigrated to the colony of South Australia sometime before August 1883, the date of the commencement of his architectural partnership with William McMinn in Adelaide. The partnership did not last long as McMinn died in February 1884.
In 1885 he had an office at Torrens Chambers on Victoria Square, Adelaide. H. E. Fuller served his articles with him for four years from 1884. He joined with partners Edmund Wright and James Henry Reed to form Wright, Reed & Beaver in on 31 March 1886, with offices at the Queen's Chambers on Pirie Street. In 1886 their design for the Jubilee Exhibition Building was awarded second prize. Fuller and artist Frank H. Bartels were articled to the practice during the 1880s, and the practice continued under the same name even after the death of Wright in 1888.
In 1889 they won a design contest for the National Mutual Life Association's new Melbourne premises at the south-west corner of Queen and Collins Streets, and set up offices in Queen Street. The office and project were headed by Beaver. The eight-storey building in Federation Gothic / Gothic Revival style, later known as A. C. Goode House, and then Bank of New Zealand in Australia House, now listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The foundation stone was laid 28 July 1891, and the building completed in March 1893. The entry foyer has marble details. The ceiling of the main chamber is ornamented, consisting of a plaster beam and panel system with freestanding Corinthian columns. The building is unnamed, and has mixed tenancy, with a Zendesk sign above the door in 2022.
On 9 August 1893 Wright, Reed and Beaver was dissolved, and Beaver remained in Melbourne with offices at 125 Queen Street. In 1894 he relocated to the Fourth Victoria Building, 243 Collins Street. R. H. Solly trained as a junior under Beaver and was for four years his chief draftsman before becoming an architect with Wunderlich Ltd..

20th century

In 1901 his office was located at 11 Elizabeth Street, then moved to Altson's Buildings, 82 Elizabeth Street, on the Collins Street corner. In 1915 Arthur William Purnell joined him to form the partnership Beaver & Purnell, which lasted until 1925.
A notable design of this time was the Wattle Path Palais de Danse on the Esplanade at St Kilda, Victoria, a large dance hall, opened in October 1923, architects Beaver & Purnell, though their relative inputs are not yet known. It was built by H. H. Eilenberg of Caulfield. The building became a film studio, Efftee Studios, for Frank W. Thring in December 1933; Thring abandoned the project in 1937. H. H. Kleiner and his wife transformed it into the St. Moritz Ice-skating Palais, which opened in 1939 and finally closed in 1982.

Professional activities

Beaver may have been a Freemason. He never married. Although a member of a Jewish family, there is no mention of him in the Jewish press.
Evelyn Salenger of Sydney, and Laura Schlank of Adelaide were sisters who emigrated to South Australia aboard the SS Somersetshire in 1870. Laura was married to Salis Schlank, a well-known manufacturing jeweller.
Albert Beaver, who was arrested for embezzlement in 1897, and then released under curious circumstances was a brother.

Death and legacy

He died at his home, 23 Wynstay Road, Armadale and was buried in the Melbourne Cemetery, Carlton, Victoria.
The chief beneficiary of his will was a niece.