Purnell, Arthur William

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Arthur Purnell, architect, worked in China, mainly Canton (Guang Zhou) 1900-1910, forming a partnership with US- born engineer Chas. Paget (for which J S Gawler, later University of Melbourne consultant architect, worked c.1907-10). He designed many substantial buildings including a concrete factory which was later requisitioned by Sun Yat Sen as the first Chinese presidential palace. Returning to Australia, Purnell practised solely and in a string of partnerships, mainly in Melbourne but also Sydney, for some fifty more years, designing a range of building types which included the southern stand of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.