Philip Herapath
Philip Herapath was an English-born New Zealand architect, active in Auckland for much of the 1860s to 1880s and designer of a number of notable buildings in the city.
Early life
Born in Pilton, Devon, in England, on 19 September 1823, Philip Herapath was one of two sons of a builder and his wife. He is likely to have worked as a carpenter in Camberwell in Surrey for a time and may have received some training in architecture from his father. In 1857, he and his wife Emma, who he had married earlier in the year, emigrated to New Zealand. They arrived in Auckland on the Harkaway on 31 May and settled there, living on Karangahape Road.Professional practice
While Herapath worked as a carpenter during the earlier stages of his life in Auckland, he was advertising his services as an architect by the early 1860s and over the next several years was responsible for the design of around 60 buildings. One of his earliest commissions was an alteration of a Baptist church on Wellesley Street in 1863, and he subsequently became a member of its congregation. He designed the Pitt Street Church for the Wesleyan Methodist Church and this was built in 1865–1866. Despite being part of the temperance movement, he was commissioned to design the Albert Brewery on Elliott Street; this was a plain Victorian design executed in brick. The Auckland Institute and Museum was another of his designs. In 1872 Herapath won a competition for his design for the proposed Auckland Hospital. His entry was Victorian-Italianate in style and the building was completed in 1876.Herapath played a role in the establishment of the Auckland Institute of Architects in 1881 and became its second president. In this capacity he mediated in a dispute between architects and the Building Association over working conditions. Herapath was joined in his architectural practice by his son Samuel, formalising this by entering into a partnership, Herepath & Son, in around 1883. He was admitted as a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in November 1886.