Carrick Paul: co-designer of Hobson's tomb

The following is from notes I pulled together today on Carrick Paul, 19th century surveyor and architect here in Auckland, and later a railway surveyor in New South Wales. I will be forwarding this to the School of Architecture, University of Auckland (I keep going there for info from them, which they very kindly help me with, it's time I gave something back to them). If any readers has further info on Carrick Paul, I'd love to hear from you.

In Auckland

Paul & Gould, surveyors, from August 1883 - 1885 (various ads, Auckland Star)

1885-1887 – Partnership with Robert MacKay Fripp, as architects & surveyors

Three cottages on Epsom Road (tender, Auckland Star, 14 September 1885, p. 1)

Church at Flat Bush (tender, Auckland Star, 22 September 1885, p. 1)

Pair of semi-detached brick villas, Symonds Street (tender, Auckland Star, 10 October 1885, p. 7)

Alterations and additions, house in Mt Eden Road (tender, Auckland Star, 29 October 1885, p. 3)

Alterations, etc., House, Grafton Road (tender, Auckland Star, 18 November 1885, p. 3)

Brick Cottage, Otahuhu (tender, Auckland Star, 18 November 1885, p. 3)

Pair of shops in patent stone, Franklin Road, Ponsonby (tender, Auckland Star, 14 December 1885, p. 3; 21 December 1885, p. 2)

Timber residence, Avondale (tender, Auckland Star, 6 January 1886, p. 3)

Pair semi-detached houses, Waterloo Quadrant (Auckland Star, 1 February 1886, p. 2)

Residence on No. 10 Auckland City Council leasehold allotment in Symonds Street (Auckland Star, 5 March 1886, p. 4)

Alterations to house in Mangere (tender, Auckland Star, 6 May 1886, p. 3)

Formation of cellar in brick to Ferry Hotel, Northcote (tender, Auckland Star, 21 June 1886, p. 3)

Additions to Ferry Hotel, Northcote (tender, Auckland Star, 29 June 1886, p. 3)

Northcote can now boast of an hotel worthy of the name. The enterprising proprietor has lately spent a considerable sum of money in adding very largely to the accommodation, whilst arrangements have been made to furnish every convenience which any reasonable man or woman can desire. The grounds are laid out with & large lawn-tennis ground at the back; there is a good beach where children can play close to the hotel; a stable which will shortly accommodate 15 horses, so that saddle horses and traps may be hired; strawberry gardens close by; whilst in the hotel itself is every convenience in the shape of bath rooms, well furnished bedrooms, balconies (one of which is 86ft long by 8ft wide), numerous private sitting-rooms, billiard-room, bar dining-rooms, etc. As Northcote justly deserves the patronage of ladies and children, those having charge of school treats and the like, it has been designedly arranged that the bar, billiard-room, bar parlour, and commercial-room, together with the proper entrance to these from the road, are cut off by being at one end of the building, while the dining-room and the staircase and passages leading to all the private rooms are quite at the other and front portion of the building. The benefit of such an arrangement is obvious, and the general attention which the architects, Messrs Paul and Fripp, have paid to convenience, necessaries, and the real requirements of hotels show that they have studied the interest of the proprietor and the comfort of visitors. There is every facility for all classes to be at home. The working-man can comfortably smoke his pipe, and the lady play the piano without either being aware of the existence of the other. Not only the hotel, but the district of Northcote, as one having easy access, beautiful scenery, and the purest of atmospheres, deserve to, and will, most certainly now become a very favourite resort for pleasure and holiday seekers aid summer visitors.

(Auckland Star, 31 December 1886, p. 8)

Additions to Pier Hotel, Albert Street (tender, Auckland Star, 7 August 1886, p. 1)

Alterations to Ellerslie Hotel (tender, Auckland Star, 13 August 1886, p. 1)

Building in Market Square for Hesketh & Aitken, Auckland (Auckland Star, 3 September 1886, p. 4)

Brick block of shops and dwellings, New North Road (Auckland Star, 15 December 1886, p. 2)

Eden Vine Hotel (Auckland Star, 18 December 1886, p. 1)

Alterations and additions, Wharf Hotel (tender, Auckland Star, 21 February 1887, p. 1)

The Wharf Hotel has lately changed hands, and is now under the management of Mr J. Lynch, well and favourably known as the builder of several of our best buildings. The house has been lately enlarged, and has had a splendid dining-room and many bed-rooms added to the old building. Messrs Paul and Fripp were the architects for the new portion of the building.

(Auckland Star, 27 July 1887, p. 4)

Governor Hobson’s tomb, Symonds Street cemetery, 1887

Our readers will be pleased to learn that the old dilapidated tomb which lately marked the spot where the mortal remains of the first Governor of New Zealand rest has been replaced by a structure more worthy of that distinguished officer. .The old tomb was merely a slab of Hobart stone resting on a low brick wall. On removing these and excavating to obtain a solid foundation the upper surface of a vault was discovered, at a depth of about five feet, measuring externally 5x9 feet This vault was arched over with two courses. of brickwork. A few bricks were removed from the eastern wall below the arch in order to examine the state of the interior, when by the aid of a light fixed to the end of a rod it was seen that the interior of the. vault was dry, and the coffin in a perfect state of preservation. This aperture was then closed, the arch was strengthened by additional brickwork, and a solid foundation thus obtained. The Hobart slab now forms the visible base of the present structure, which is surmounted by a slab of black Irish marble on which rests a slab of Italian marble bearing the following inscription :— " Sacred to the memory of William Hobson, Captain in the Royal Navy, first Governor of New Zealand, who died at Auckland 10th September, 1842, aged 49 years." Messrs Paul and Fripp prepared the plans, etc.; the Auckland Steam Marble Works the marble slabs ; Mr J. H. Mullins, of Parnell, is responsible for the masonry, and Mr Peter Birley, of Seafield View Road, for the iron railings.

(Auckland Star, 11 April 1887, p. 4)

Messrs Ehrenfried’s Store, Queen Street Wharf (tender, Auckland Star, 18 April 1887, p. 8)

Alterations, store, Queen Street (tender, Auckland Star, 17 May 1887, p. 8)

Reinstating shops, Manukau Road, Parnell (Auckland Star, 16 August 1887, p. 5)

Alterations to bond store, Little Queen Street, for Ehrenfried Brothers (tender, Auckland Star 2 September 1887, p. 8)

Bridge Hotel, Coromandel (tender, Auckland Star, 17 September 1887, p. 5)

Additions and Alterations, house, Remuera (tender, Auckland Star, 29 November 1887, p. 8)

In October 1887, Carrick Paul, son of James Paul of Dunedin, late of Glasgow, married Eva Kathleen Douglas at St Francis Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames. The couple left Auckland in the ss. Manapouri for Sydney “where Mr Paul has lately obtained an appointment.” (Thames Star, 17 October 1887, p. 2)

In Australia

At an examination lately hold to determine the qualifications of candidates for license to survey under the Crown Lands Acts, the following gentlemen were found by the Board of Examiners to be competent, and have been recommended to the Secretary for Lands for appointment :-Michael Herbert, Carrick Paul … (Sydney Morning Herald, 23 December 1887, p. 7)

Mrs Kathleen Paul died April 1896. (Thames Star 20 April 1896, p. 2)

1913 – appears to have been a government railway surveyor (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, NSW, 8 April 1913, p. 2)

One son, Carrick Stewart Paul, born in Thames 1893 (possibly during a curative visit by his mother), died in 1919.

“Carrick Paul came from [Thames], New Zealand, and was a Surveyor’s Assistant in Sydney, aged 21, when he joined the 6th Light Horse at Rose Hill on 24 September 1914. He left Sydney on HMAT A29 Suevic on 19 December. On 13 July 1915 he was wounded in the foot at Gallipoli and evacuated to Malta, and then to Egypt. In March 1916 he was Mentioned in Despatches for action at Gallipoli. After rejoining his Regiment, he was wounded in the shoulder during an action near the Suez Canal on 4 August. A year later he was accepted for flying training and posted to the School of Aeronautics and then to No 21 Training and No 58 Reserve Sqns RFC, in Egypt, before being commissioned after graduation. He was assigned to No 67 (Australian) Sqn in December 1917, and in 1918 he went on to be credited with five victories (one shared) while flying Bristol F2B C4627 with Lt W J A Weir as his observer …

He died on 22 January 1919 when he fell overboard from the transport ship after overbalancing while recovering a quoit that had gone under a lifeboat. He was seen in the water after falling in, but could not be found when the ship returned to pick him up.”

(World War I Talk messageboard, ww1talk.co.uk, 2009)

Carrick Paul sr. appears to have died 4 October 1926 in Chatswood, Sydney. (death notices, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 1926)