The news came in an early morning phone call from a colleague: John Simpson had died. We had lost contact with him. At one of our monthly curry gatherings some time ago, he told us that he was going back to live in his home town in Scotland. We said our goodbyes then, only to find out later that he did not go, and was living in a residential retirement centre in Brisbane. A subsequent report from a friend told of a brief, sad meeting with him in a shopping centre a couple of years later; the phone call was the next mention we had of him.
John came to Brisbane in 1972 to set up the local office for John Andrews International. He tells the story of his introduction to the state, when, during his first few days in his Queensland hotel room watching the news on television, a roving reporter asked the proverbial ‘man in the street’ his opinion on a political story. The response was: “Don’t ask me, mate; I’m from Gympie.” The anecdote was always followed by generous laughter.
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I first met John when I applied for a job at the Toowong office he had opened for JAI in the old shoe factory on Benson Street, that slight bend in Coronation Drive just before the railway bridge crossing, opposite the old bus shelter by the station.# One walked into this small, quirky, repurposed weatherboard building that sat awkwardly on the kink in the road, to be confronted with a large photographic mural of the studio interior of Gund Hall, the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture, covering the whole wall that expanded the tiny reception area into this iconic educational amphitheatre. John must have been proud of this project to have given it such prominence. The office had everything quaint and quirky about it that made such places ‘interesting,’ different to the classy opulence of other professional suites, with the inference being that this unusual choice could accommodate a creative mind, in the same way as John Andrews International’s Sydney office was located in a former sail loft and boatshed at Palm Beach.
Memories of the interaction that day have faded, but the times spent in this office were memorable. John was always buzzing in and out, keeping an eye on things, developing ideas, discussing possibilities, sketching, engaging chirpily with clients, or more sternly, being agitated with concerns while dealing with various issues as they arose. He was a collaborative operator, relying on others to complete the project matters discussed, with possibilities being developed for further reviews and other resolutions until things were satisfactorily determined, which could mean starting afresh. Morning tea came with hot sticky buns; a beer was always in the office refrigerator for 5:00pm or earlier; and the darts board held centre place for ad hoc relaxation or the Friday challenge. The office was friendly and inclusive, promoting much of the same culture as that in the Sydney office, and, one presumed, that of the Toronto office too: it was chirpily cooperative and ‘alternative.’
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The Chemical Engineering building at the University of Queensland was just nearing completion. John frequently spoke of its civic role, formalising a path into the university, giving some urban order to the ad hoc development of the site, with the building doing more than merely functioning for the engineers. The Environmental Studies Building at Griffith University was in its early development stage, as was the planning and refurbishment work at the Kelvin Grove College. A major, multi-tower, inner city project for Brisbane was being documented, but sadly this project never progressed.
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After moving on from this office, one saw John regularly at the Institute of Architects’ events, the University of Queensland social occasions, and during the Queensland University of Technology lecturing commitments. With time, one saw less and less of him; but we were always kept up to date with his activities once his office had closed in 1995, as he maintained close contact with a colleague, doing project work with him and popping in regularly for an afternoon drink and a chat. We met again after we invited him to our curry lunches which he always enjoyed.
John sparkled enthusiastically when telling stories, but took his architectural debates seriously to the point of being argumentative. It was Christopher Hitchens, and he should know, who pointed out that ‘time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted’ – and it wasn’t. It has been noted that what we negatively call ‘argument’ today is really dispute, a word derived from disputare, to think contentiously. John thought contentiously, and could become moody, prickly, with his committed views, rarely keeping silent on matters that mattered to him. He was an architect’s architect and loved his profession.
In 1983, after being selected as the architect for a new campus development in Brisbane, John broke away from John Andrews and set up an office in his own name in a house in the quaintly named Zigzag Street at Red Hill. This unhappy schism took years to mend.
It was in the preface to one of the planning reports prepared for a project in the Sydney office that the memorable words were first seen. They were from Robert Frost’s poem, Mending Wall:
Before I built a
wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And
to whom I was like to give offence.
John practised with this attitude to architecture - buildings, place, and people all mattered. John’s approach to architecture was rigorous and resolute, developing a character in his projects that appeared to capture the Scottish Baronial boldness of elemental, geometric form. He never relinquished his roots revealed in his accent.
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John bought a depth of experience to Queensland. After training in Glasgow, followed by a stint with Basil Spence and further study at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he joined John Andrews in Toronto, working on Scarborough College outside of Toronto, the student residences at the University of Guelph, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Miami Seaport Passenger Terminal, and Gund Hall at Harvard. After Andrews had been brought back to Australia to work on the Çameron Offices project at Belconnen, the office began getting other commissions, including the University of Canberra student residences, and King George tower in Sydney. John's association with John Andrews had a touch of the larrikin that concealed the close working relationship.
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No other Australian architect has ever established such an international reputation from overseas. Now we see local architects eager to engage architectural offices with quirky names from abroad, from anywhere but Australia, to share the major project work, seemingly trying to get some semblance of ‘international’ prestige. John Andrews had it all and brought his ‘international’ experience to Australia; John Simpson was a part of this. The profession is slow, perhaps reluctant to recognise this renown, being spitefully gleeful about issues raised with some projects.
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While John Simpson’s memorable cross sectional projections of Scarborough College remain as iconic images even today, and the power and inventiveness of the original scheme still remains a remarkable, inspirational vision of its time – epochal, he saw this project extended with a banal addition that saddened him. Likewise, in spite of all the support he was given to save his much-praised landmark Griffith Environmental Studies project from demolition, he walked away from this challenge after visiting the site and seeing the way his building had been vandalised by others in his profession over time. He said that he could hardly recognise the place. He saw no point in maintaining this shambles.
While we might now like to speak of John Simpson as a committed, talented architect who has done praiseworthy work to the point of effusiveness, the sadness of the neglect and mistreatment of some work needs to be recorded as it says a lot about us and our phoney care for the efforts of those who put so much of themselves into doing good work. John’s Scottish rigour would have wanted this to be recorded: so much for moral rights and caring for another architect’s work. There is humbug in this profession and our times that appears happy to say one thing while acting otherwise. Respect seems to be estranged in favour of self-interest.
He was a Stirling lad, raised near this city just outside Glasgow, bringing all of that raw, gritty determination and wit Glaswegians are known for to his life and work. He trained in Glasgow at MacIntosh’s astonishing School of Art before attending the celebrated Harvard Graduate School of Design and joining John Andrews. He was sensitive to the point of, as a young man, being afraid to answer the telephone, a gentle trait Scots conceal with their rash, jovial brashness. Now, as if completing the circle, ‘sterling’ seems to be an appropriate adjective to describe John, his work and his commitment to his profession. His persistence, rigour, and engagement with architecture will be missed as the world spins into the distracting, indulgent, abstract amazement of AI-isms.
Personal endeavour and commitment drove John in an era when theories, debate, and ideas shaped actions and outcomes rather than the morphing algorithms, and drawing meant a skilful personal act of hand and mind thinking together, discovering possibilities and realities as a lived experience, not tapping on a keyboard while staring admiringly, entranced in astonishment, at a screen. The whole body, life itself, was engaged in architecture in an intimate manner. His was truly a lived professional involvement.
Over the years, John persisted with the gesture that began with Scarborough College – providing clients with the framed, original, inspirational working sketch taken from the files, the germ of the work, on the completion of the project. Now he has left us all with his inspirational life story and achievement to ponder – a palimpsest worthy of acclaim; yes, even by those from Gympie.
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HISTORICAL NOTE
Facebook · Toowong and District Historical Society Group
It was in Benson St opposite the bus shelter which was above the station. I recently saw an old advertisement for “GB Footwear made in Toowong”, ...
George Bennett Footwear
AI Overview
The "GB Footwear" brand refers to historical boot and shoe operations established by shoemaker George Bennett on River Road and Benson Street in Toowong, Brisbane, operating during the early to mid-1900s.
A quick look at the local history and current footwear scene:
Historical Toowong Factory
The Manufacturer: George Bennett manufactured well-known sporting footwear, including the famous Duncan Thompson football and sporting boots.
The Location: The factory was historically situated at 2 Benson Street (previously River Road) in Toowong, opposite the bus shelter and above the railway station.
Legacy: While the original Toowong factory building no longer exists (demolished for later developments), it remains a notable piece of local Brisbane manufacturing history often discussed by the Toowong and District Historical Society Group.
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