‘Entrance archway to the University of Otago’

1912

Hocken Pictorial Collection

Unpublished

In 1911, Edmund Anscombe (1874–1948) was appointed university architect, a post he held until 1929. He was an active, busy architect. Some of his local works included extensions to Maxwell Bury’s work, Allen Hall (1914), the Domestic Science building (1918), the Physics building (1922), Marama Hall (1923), the Dental school (1924), and the Medical school (1927). In 1929, he moved to Wellington and continued working, most notably for the 1940 New Zealand Centennial Exhibition. Anscombe had a major impact on architectural design in New Zealand. While in Dunedin, he worked on the clocktower complex, specifically the Archway Building. This watercolour image is attributed to his early years, in 1912.