Ashwin and Falconer were a stained glazing partnership in Pitt Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Their work appears in a number of heritage-listed properties.[1]
History
editJohn Falconer was one of the earliest Sydney stained glaziers establishing his business in 1863 after his arrival in Australia from Glasgow in 1856. He was joined by Frederick Ashwin (1833-1909) in 1875.
Frederick Ashwin was born in Birmingham, and joined the London-based stained glass firm of Clayton and Bell before setting up on his own account in Bloomsbury, London.[2][3] Ashwin's surviving English works include a memorial window, entitled “The Dawning of the Last Day” which he produced, in 1871, for St Barnabas's Church, Hengoed, Shropshire.[4] It is now preserved at the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral. He also produced a representation of Charity (“Charitas”) that was displayed in London at the 1872 International Exhibition,[5] and now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum.[6]
Falconer and Ashwin formed a partnership around 1876 called Falconer and Ashwin,[2] later reversed to Ashwin and Falconer. Falconer continued in practice until 1892 when Ashwin and Falconer became known as F Ashwin & Co.[1][7] John Radecki joined the firm in 1885 as a trainee and continued as an employee until Ashwin's death in 1909. The business F Ashwin & Co, which had relocated from Pitt Street to 83 Commonwealth Street, was sold up in 1925.[8]
In 1910, Radecki became chief designer for John Ashwin & Co, in partnership with Frederick Ashwin's cousin, John Ashwin, a jeweller from Birmingham who had been in business in New Zealand.[9][10][11] Radecki was proprietor of John Ashwin & Co, which was based at 31 Dixon Street, Sydney, from John Ashwin's death in 1920 until 1954. Because of Radecki's connection with F Ashwin & Co, John Ashwin & Co sometimes claimed continuity with the earlier firm.[12] Radecki's daughter Winifred Siedlecky continued as proprietor of the firm until the building's owners demolished the Dixon Street premises in 1961.
Significant works
editThe company produced many outstanding windows including:[1]
- 1877: the glazed dome in the Sydney Town Hall[7]
- 1878: windows for St James's Catholic church, Forest Lodge, Sydney[7]
- circa 1882: two figured panels at Farrington House in Alderley, Brisbane, Queensland (since removed from this house and in an unknown private collection)[13]
- panels for St James' Church of England in Toowoomba, Queensland which were designed by Edmund Blacket & Son[14]
- a window in the Wesley Uniting Church in Toowoomba[1]
- 1905: three stained glass windows in St Andrew's Uniting Church in Brisbane (representing the Burning Bush, John Knox and John Calvin)[14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Wesley Uniting Church (entry 601695)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ a b "The Sydney Morning Herald". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LXXIII, no. 11, 892. New South Wales, Australia. 29 June 1876. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Sporting Life (London), 16 October 1861, p 4.
- ^ Wrexham Advertiser, 23 December 1871, p 6.
- ^ The Building News, 7 June 1872, p 451.
- ^ "Window | Ashwin, Frederick | V&A Explore the Collections".
- ^ a b c Beverley Sherry (2011). "Stained glass". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27, 318. New South Wales, Australia. 25 July 1925. p. 20. Retrieved 8 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Lech Paszkowski, Poles in Australia and Oceania 1790-1940 (Australian National University Press, 1987) p 52.
- ^ "ARTISTS IN STAINED CLASS". The Catholic Press. No. 780. New South Wales, Australia. 1 December 1910. p. 42. Retrieved 8 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 104, 3 May 1910, p 2.
- ^ The Church Standard, 14 March 1930.
- ^ "Farrington House (entry 600046)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ a b "St Andrews Uniting Church (entry 600086)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
Attribution
edit
This Wikipedia article is based on "The Queensland heritage register" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU license (accessed on 7 July 2014, archived on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were originally computed from the "Queensland heritage register boundaries" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU license (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived on 15 October 2014).
Further reading
edit- "SAINTS REAL PEOPLE TO STAINED-GLASS ARTIST". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 14, no. 13. Australia. 7 September 1946. p. 26. Retrieved 11 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- Whitmore, Karla (2015), Stained glass pioneers of Sydney : John Falconer and Frederick Ashwin, Chatswood, NSW Karla Whitmore, ISBN 978-0-646-93711-3