Carlyle Greenwell

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Carlyle Greenwell was an Australian architect whose houses, designed in the first half of the 20th century, are now heritage listed and a philanthropist whose bequest to the University of Sydney funds research in Anthropology and Archaeology.

He was born on 16 March 1884 in Windsor and was educated at Newington College. He studied architecture at Sydney Technical College before there was a university architecture course available in Sydney but also attended architecture lectures in the Engineering Faculty at University of Sydney. He later studied at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a B.Sc.(Arch) in 1911. Before studying abroad he had been articled to Harry Kent and Henry Budden and in 1912 he joined them in partnership as Kent Budden & Greenwell. During this time Greenwell designed a number of now heritage listed houses for family and friends in Strathfield and Killara, notably Terhyn Worthle which was featured in "Domestic architecture in Australia" edited by William Hardy Wilson (Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1919). These homes had elements of the Federation Arts and Crafts and Federation Bungalow styles. After the departure of Kent the firm became known as Budden & Greenwell and in this period Greenwell designed the Inter-War Gothic styled Killara Congregational Church, which is now a Uniting Church in Australia parish, the Woolloomooloo Bay Mothers and Wives Memorial to Soldiers [1] and the Harrison House (now Weis Restaurant) in Toowoomba. [2]. In 1931, while in partnership as Greenwell & Shirley, Greenwell designed the Norman House in Vaucluse. He married Sibyl Enid Vera Munro Morrison New South Wales' first woman barrister on 16 March 1937. [3] Greenwell servd as an Army Officer in both World War I and World War II. He died at Collaroy 7 February 1961 and his estate funded the Carlyle Greenwell Research Fund at Sydney University for student research, field work and original literary work in Anthropology. [4] A substantial bequest to the Art Gallery of NSW included works by George Lambert, Sydney Long, Kenneth McQueen and John Passmore. Over many years he was also a major donor to the Australian Museum.