Ted McCoy


Edward John McCoy , generally known as Ted McCoy, was a New Zealand architect whose practice was based in Dunedin. He designed the sanctuary of St Paul's Cathedral, and the Richardson Building of the University of Otago, among many others. In 1950, he established McCoy and Wixon Architects, joined in partnership by Peter Wixon in 1967.

Biography

McCoy was born on 23 February 1925 in Dunedin, the third of five children. McCoy studied architecture at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1949. He moved back to his home city of Dunedin the following year, setting up an architectural practice in the city. His first major design was for the Dominican Order's Aquinas Hall, in the north of the city,. The design won a Gold Medal as design of the year from the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
McCoy's architectural influences included 1950s Californian architecture, Scandinavian modernism, and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was also fascinated by the Victorian and Edwardian architecture of his home city. Much of McCoy's work was Brutalist, though his awareness of the historic styles within Dunedin led him to create buildings which echoed history as well as presenting the modern. This was perhaps most noteworthy in the sanctuary of Dunedin's St Paul's Cathedral, where a modern addition was created for a much older structure.
In 1967, McCoy set up a partnership with Peter Wixon to form McCoy and Wixon Architects. The firm won many institutional and governmental commissions, notably the Chancery for the New Zealand High Commission in Papua New Guinea.
McCoy and his wife Nola had 13 children, two sons and 11 daughters, four of whom followed him into architectural design, as has one of their 20 grandchildren. He died at his home in Dunedin on 17 January 2018, aged 92. Nola McCoy died in 2025.

Works

McCoy was past national president, and a Fellow, of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Institute of Architects, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He served as chairman of the Otago Historical Trust regional committee, and the national board of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

Legacy

In 2016, the New Zealand Institute of Architects inaugurated the Ted McCoy Award, to be presented annually, for design of education facilities.
McCoy worked with photographer Gary Blackman on the book Victorian City of New Zealand. He was a contributor to Historic Buildings of New Zealand: South Island. McCoy's career and buildings are recorded in the 2007 book, A Southern Architecture: The work of Ted McCoy, written by McCoy and published by Otago University Press.