New Market, Hobart Town - Original Lithograph - Drawn by William Kay [Hobart] and Lithographed Arrowsmith [London] 1851

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New Market, Hobart Town – Original Lithograph – Drawn by William Kay [Hobart] and Lithographed Arrowsmith [London] 1851

Short Description

A scarce original lithograph of the plans for the New Market at Hobart Town. Produced by John Arrowsmith (1790-1873) from drawings by William Porden Kay (1809-1897) Director of Public Works, Hobart Town. Limited but original colouring.

Shows the monumentally classic front elevation on Macquarie Street with transverse and longitudinal sections and a ground plan detailing the allocation of space to individual shops, the fish market, hay and straw shed, corn exchange and offices. The market was constructed as described in 1851-1853 but unfortunately burned down early in the 20th century and was replaced by the now City Hall.

There do not appear to be any original examples in Australian Libraries. The State library of NSW has a facsimile produced by the Irish Academic Press in 1977

About William Porden Kay

William Porden Kay was born into a family of architects his father was the vice-president of the institute of British Architects. He was the nephew of Sir John Franklin through his first wife and Kay was invited to Van Diemen’s Land because the Franklins objected that the two most highly qualified architects in Hobart Town, James Backburn and James Thomson were emancipated convicts. He arrived in 1842 and was soon appointed Director of Public works. There were claims of nepotism and his appointment was disallowed by the Secretary of State. A spat arose and Kay was in and out of the position several times before matters settled down. He was very active in Hobart until his health started failing around the time of the construction of the New Market. He was pensioned off and returned to England.

Scarce original 1854 architectural lithograph

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