Carlyle Greenwell (16 March 1884 – 7 February 1961) was an Australian architect whose houses, designed in the first half of the 20th century, are often heritage-listed. He was also a philanthropist who made bequests to the University of Sydney funding research in Anthropology and Archaeology.
Early life
Greenwell was born in Windsor, New South Wales, the son of Australian-born Emma Amelia Greenwell (née Johnston 1847-1922) and English-born Smith Thomas Greenwell (1831-1913). He was educated at Newington College (1897–1901).
Architectural career
Greenwell 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. In the 1910s Australian and North American architecture became more aligned when the English-born architect and designer James Peddle arrived in Pasadena. He was determined to learn all he could in California by working there. Several Australian architects had already made study trips to the United States before this time and, as John Horbury Hunt’s houses demonstrate, North American architectural trends had had an impact on Australian practice as early as the 1870s. In the 1890s Richardsonian Romanesque, based on an Australian interpretation of Henry Hobson Richardson’s Stick Style and Richardsonian commercial building, had also made a brief splash in Sydney and Melbourne. In the early 1900s, some Australians gained scholarships to attend the School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, then considered “the greatest one of them all” by John Francis Hennessy who attended in 1909 and 1910. Greenwell attended this Philadelphia program at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a B.Sc.(Arch) in 1911. Beaux-Arts training was still the main focus of the department’s program. The minutes of the meeting of The Institute of Architects of New South Wales for 1912 records that “We are pleased that Mr. Jack Hennessy and Mr. Carlyle Greenwell have returned and intend to remain among us”. Before studying abroad, Greenwell had been articled to the firm of Kent & Budden, and in 1912 he joined them in partnership as Kent Budden & Greenwell and worked on houses in The Malvern Hill Estate. Malvern hill is a residential estate of mainly Federation and early Interwar houses, with a defined shopping street called The Strand. It was developed from 1909 in Croydon, approximately 10 kilometres from Sydney, and is bounded by Edwin Street, Thomas Street and Walter Street on the east; the railway line, Paisley Road, Reed Street and the rear of properties in Murray Street on the north; the rear of properties on Tahlee Street and David Street on the west; and Liverpool Road on the south. Since 1986 the Malvern Hill Estate has been protected as a conservation area under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act of NSW. The residential and retail precincts of the estate represent an almost intact example of the town planning and architectural trends of the early twentieth century. The Strand shopping strip, which was developed between 1913 and 1920, was a dominant feature of the new model suburb of Malvern Hill and contributes greatly to the federation character of the area. It was designed to provide a broad and elegant transition between the railway station at Croydon and the salubrious residential streets of Malvern Hill. 15 Malvern Avenue was designed by Kent, Budden & Greenwell for geologist and educator Adolph Carl von de Heyde Süssmilch (1875-1946) in 1912, making it one of the earliest Californian Bungalows built in Sydney. It was occupied for about 25 years by Sir Bertram Stevens, who lived there while he was Premier of NSW. Greenwell was the project architect for two other houses on the estate: 32 Malvern Crescent, and Toorak at 29 Chelmsford Avenue both showing his distinctive rough-cast stucco columns. During this time, Greenwell designed a number of substantial homes for family and friends in Strathfield, Killara and Vaucluse. Designs in these suburbs include Milverton on The Boulevarde and Yeulba at 65 Woodside Avenue, Strathfield. They are characteristic of his work in this period and still largely intact. Milverton is now part of the campus of Trinity Prep. Other notable designs showing his trademark rough-cast stucco columns are Wilgunyah at 30 Roberts Street, Strathfield, and Terhyn Worthle at 1 Locksley Street, Killara. In 2022 Wilgunyah was altered but its columns remain. In 2012 Terhyn Worthle was substantially demolished. One of the local council’s requirements of the new dwelling was to retain the six large columns at the front.