John Young (building contractor)

John Young
JP
33rd Mayor of Sydney
In office
9 December 1885  9 December 1886
Preceded by Thomas Playfair
Succeeded by Alban Joseph Riley
1st Mayor of Annandale
In office
14 February 1894  10 February 1897
Succeeded by Allen Taylor
Personal details
Born 1827
Foot's Cray, Kent, England
Died 27 February 1907
Annandale, New South Wales, Australia

John Young (1827 – 27 February 1907) was an Australian bowler, builder, politician and alderman.[1]

Life and career

Young was born in Foot's Cray, Kent, England and died in Annandale, Sydney, New South Wales.[2] After moving to Victoria, Australia, in 1855, he had mixed results as a builder. He then moved to Sydney in 1866 and proceeded to make his mark. As a result, he is especially remembered as the buider of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney (designed by William Wardell), and the Johnston Street group of houses in Annandale. The most outstanding house in the group was The Abbey, a sandstone, heritage-listed house in the Victorian Free Gothic style.[3] (Sydney folklore has it that Young took gargoyles intended for St Mary's Cathedral and used them on The Abbey). Another outstanding house was Highroyd. The house known as Oybin is also heritage-listed.[4]

The Johnston Street group originally consisted of eight houses, two of which (Rozelle and Claremont) have since been demolished and replaced with blocks of home units. Young himself lived in the nearby house known as Kentville, which has also been demolished.

Young also took an active interest in politics. He was Mayor of Sydney in 1886 and Mayor of Leichhardt in 1879 and 1884-85.

Young died of cancer at Kentville in 1907.

References

  1. "JohnYoung". Sydney's Aldermen. City of Sydney. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  2. Johnson, Robert. "Young, John (1827–1907)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  3. State Heritage Register
  4. State Heritage Register
Civic offices
Preceded by
John Thomas Fraser
Mayor of Leichhardt
1879 – 1880
Succeeded by
John Thomas Fraser
Preceded by
William Pritchard
Mayor of Leichhardt
1885 – 1886
Succeeded by
Samuel George Davison
Preceded by
Thomas Playfair
Mayor of Sydney
1885 – 1886
Succeeded by
Alban Joseph Riley
New title Mayor of Annandale
1894 – 1897
Succeeded by
Allen Taylor
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.